Construal-level theory (CLT) proposes that psychological distance influences the level of abstraction at which something is mentally construed: Things perceived as less probable (likelihood) or further away from the here (spatial distance), now (temporal distance), or self (social distance) are thought about more abstractly. In this international multilab study, we tested four basic hypotheses derived from core assumptions of CLT and explore potential moderators and boundary conditions of the effects. Participants ( N = 11,775) from 27 countries and regions were randomly assigned to one of four experimental protocols focused on different types of psychological distance (temporal, spatial, social, or likelihood), and each experiment manipulated psychological distance (close vs. distant). The protocols for temporal distance ( n = 2,941) and spatial distance ( n = 2,973) were direct replications of Liberman and Trope (Study 1) and Fujita et al. (Study 1), respectively. The remaining two protocols were paradigmatic replications, applying to social distance ( n = 2,926) and likelihood ( n = 2,936). The effects of psychological distance on construal level for the four present studies were as follows (positive effects are consistent with hypotheses): temporal, d = 0.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.003, 0.16] (effect in original study: d = 0.92); spatial, d = 0.04, 95% CI = [−0.03, 0.11] (effect in original study: d = 0.55); social, d = −0.27, 95% CI = [−0.34, −0.19]; and likelihood, d = 0.03, 95% CI = [−0.05, 0.11]. Pretests indicated that valence and abstraction were confounded in response options on the outcome measure. Controlling for this confound eliminated the hypothesis-inconsistent effect of social distance, d = 0.006, 95% CI = [−0.05, 0.07]. These findings provide limited evidence for the predictions of the theory and present a critical challenge for CLT.

Despite increasing attention to human-animal relations in psychology, studies identifying the underlying dimensions guiding perceptions of animals are not common. Using multidimensional scaling (PROXCAL) as a novel methodological approach, we explored the empirically derived dimensions that reflect how people organize animal targets based on their relationships with humans. Participants were asked about the similarity with which humans relate to animals, rating 34 animals using Likert scales in study 1 (n = 108) and grouping the same animals in study 2 (n = 112). A 3-dimensional scaling solution fitted the data adequately. Rooted in stereotype content, study 3 aimed to interpret those dimensions using independently rated animal attributes (n = 176). Results showed the relevance of the relational nature - ferocity, wildness, avoidance/approach, warmth, and physical capacity - size and strength, whereas animals' competence was less important. Adopting a novel methodological approach, the findings indicate the predominance of a relational nature and physical capacity for how people spontaneously organize animals. Implications for conservation and environmental issues are discussed.

Climate change (CC) has been listed as the greatest risk to humanity, and the most appropriate strategies to address the situation depend largely on how the problem is perceived. The purpose of this study is to analyse social perceptions of CC in two natural areas of Spain (Garajonay and Sierra Espu & ntilde;a). Participants (N = 334) showed high levels of concern and low levels of scepticism about CC. A factorial model was developed to explain the relationships between variables that affect concern about CC: scepticism, technological optimism, negative self-efficacy, political ideology and perceived signs of CC. The SEM model (R 2 = .65; chi 2(df) = 223.65 (131); CFI = .968; RMSEA = .057) shows the strategic importance of considering the variables included (such as CC scepticism and technological optimism) so as to better understand the complex phenomenon of concern about CC. El cambio clim & aacute;tico (CC) ha sido catalogado como el mayor riesgo para la humanidad y las estrategias m & aacute;s adecuadas para afrontar la situaci & oacute;n dependen en gran medida de la percepci & oacute;n del problema. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la percepci & oacute;n social del CC en dos & aacute;reas naturales de Espa & ntilde;a (Garajonay y Sierra Espu & ntilde;a). Los participantes (N = 334) mostraron altos niveles de preocupaci & oacute;n por el CC y bajos niveles de escepticismo sobre la existencia de & eacute;ste. Se elabor & oacute; un modelo factorial para explicar las relaciones entre variables que afectan a la preocupaci & oacute;n por el CC: escepticismo, optimismo tecnol & oacute;gico, autoeficacia negativa, ideolog & iacute;a pol & iacute;tica e indicios percibidos del CC. El modelo SEM (R 2 = .65; chi 2(gl) = 223.65 (131); CFI = .968; RMSEA = .057) muestra la importancia estrat & eacute;gica de considerar las variables incluidas (como el escepticismo frente al CC y el optimismo tecnol & oacute;gico) para comprender mejor el complejo fen & oacute;meno de la preocupaci & oacute;n por el CC.

The animal stereotype approach dissolves 'animals' into diverse images depending on their species. First, we reviewed recent research showing the attributes socially ascribed to different animal species. Next, we discussed how the animal stereotype approach may complement dehumanization by broadening the distinct forms of animalized dehumanization based on 1) intentions (warm, friendly, and harmful), 2) abilities (perceptual and cognitive), 3) physical appearance (size, aesthetic appeal), 4) affective capacities, 5) physiological needs, and 6) domestic-wild nature.

Large carnivores are challenging to conserve because people are ambivalent. This research analyzed the social perception of wolves and brown bears from a novel psychological approach rarely used within conservation: animal species stereotypes (category-based generalizations). Spanish college students ascribed 17 characteristics to wolves (Study 1, N = 144 participants) and 18 to brown bears (Study 2, N = 199). Four domains - Physical (e.g., beautiful) Species-related (carnivorous), Cognitive (cunning), and Social (dangerous) - captured the stereotype content of both species, with the Social (Physical) domain being more relevant for wolves and bears. Results indicated that people a) identified stereotypes for large carnivores, as they do for people; and b) held ambivalent stereotypes (including positive and negative characteristics). Findings extend the stereotype content model and can inform the conservation of large carnivores in the 21(st) century.

People’s attitudes to animals are becoming increasingly important for the success of invasive species management. We asked college students from Argentina to fill a questionnaire that included a question about their favorite free-living animal. A total of 159 responses were obtained. Native species were significantly less preferred than non-native species. We tested if these preferences were associated with animal stereotypes. The stereotype hypothesis predicts that animals from the contemptible stereotype (invertebrate, rodents, and reptiles) should be the least preferred taxa, and animals from the protective stereotype (pets, horses, and primates) should be the most preferred taxa; animals from the subordination (lagomorphs and birds) and threatening–awe stereotype (large carnivores) should show intermediate preferences. The first prediction was supported. However, students showed significant preference for non-native taxa included in the threatening–awe stereotype. We proposed that people prefer large carnivores (stereotypically strong, intelligent, and beautiful animals) when they are exotic, because they did not represent a risk.

Abstarct Despite the popularity of the humanization movement in healthcare environments, there has been no systematic implementation of design changes aimed at reducing the negative effects of hospital environments. This article reviews the contributions made by psycho-environmental research about the psycho-social implications of design for users’ health and well-being in the areas of healthcare, patient engagement, social interaction, spatial orientation and environmental stress. It also proposes recommendations for spatial design regarding the dual function of hospitals as a place of care for patients and a place of work for staff members. Finally, it discusses the amplification of the negative effects of hospital settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review provides a basic guide to the environmental effects of hospitals aimed at health professionals with a view to improving healthcare.

For constructionism, language is the link among different levels of analysis of emotional events, from individual to interpersonal and macrosocial. The interaction among these emotional levels allows us to construe an emotional episode and label it with an emotion word, coordinate with the emotions perceived in others, and represent events as a society. Across two studies, we found similarities and differences among inner emotions experienced (individual level), emotions perceived in others (descriptive feeling rules, interpersonal level) and emotions shared on the internet (socioemotional conventions, macrosocial level), with all these emotional targets focused on the COVID-19 outbreak. The results indicate a similarity between the emotional meaning of COVID-19 in society and the descriptive feeling rules, whereas the reported inner emotions were clearly distinct: Joy was irrelevant at the interpersonal and macrosocial levels but clearly important at the individual level. A mismatch also appeared for fear and hope. While fear was the most predominant emotion at the interpersonal and macrosocial levels during most of the phases, it was moderately predominant at the individual level. Hope followed the opposite pattern, being the most relevant emotion at the individual level but less relevant at the interpersonal and macrosocial levels. Each level might have different consequences: Mixed emotions at the individual level might promote resilience; fear perceived in other people might motivate protective behaviors; and sadness socially shared during Christmas might generate greater empathy. These results support the complexity of emotional concepts and the suitability of exploring them at different levels of analysis.

The purpose of this study was to examine how attitudes toward different nonhuman animal species (including emotional empathy, cognitive empathy, and harm avoidance) are shaped by the coevolutionary histories between the ancestors of contemporary humans and these different nonhuman animal species. We compared the explanatory power of alternative categorization frameworks for classifying attitudes toward animals across several cross-cultural samples (Arizona, California, Costa Rica, Spain, and Mexico). Analytical Approach 1 directly compared two alternative frameworks. Adapa categories were generated as purely functional ones based upon the ecological niches occupied by each species within the biotic community generated by human–nonhuman animal relations, and Tuxtla categories were generated as cognitive ones based upon the degrees of consciousness commonly ascribed to the constituent species. Analytical Approach 2 tested the alternative hypothesis that both categories were part of a general scheme organized into three superordinate categories reflecting concentric circles around our own, consistent with fitness interdependence theory. Results supported this alternative hypothesis. The concentric circles model (Kith & Kin Animals, Domesticated Animals, and Wild Animals) better explained empathy and harm avoidance scores, suggesting that attitudes toward specific animal species are partly shaped by which circles they fall into, the product of the coevolutionary relationship shared between them and humans.

Increased interest in the study of the relationships between human and nonhuman animals over the past few decades has often focused on what factors shape people’s attitudes and treatment towards nonhuman animals. Some scholars have focused on features of the nonhuman animals (cuteness, intelligence, and utility) and how those features predict human behavior while others have concentrated more on possible human individual differences that influence their attitudes and positive or negative actions towards nonhuman animals. In this study, with 978 participants from five different cross-cultural study sites (Arizona, California, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain), we utilized three superordinate categories of animal species representing three “Concentric Circles” surrounding our own (from Kith-Kin , to Domestic , to Wild Animals) to investigate the influence of individual differences and local ecological conditions on empathy and harm avoidance scores across these categories. Specifically, these variables were as follows: (1) a set of variables representing the cross-cultural study sites; (2) a second set of sociodemographic predictors; (3) a developmental Animal Exposure factor; (4) a Dark Inventory factor; (5) an Interpersonal Aggression factor; (6) a KithKin-Empathy factor, measuring emotional and cognitive empathy towards Kith-Kin animals; (7) a Domestic-Empathy factor, measuring emotional and cognitive empathy towards Domestic animals; (8) a Wild-Empathy factor, measuring emotional and cognitive empathy towards Wild animals; and (9) a Harm Avoidance factor. A Cascade Model approach allowed us to integrate many factors (individual differences and local ecological conditions) together in explaining empathy and harm avoidance that have previously been examined only in mutual isolation.

Using the stereotype content model (SCM; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) and the behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes (BIAS) map (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007), two experiments tested the effect of animal stereotypes on emotions and behavioral tendencies toward animals. As a novel approach, Study 1 ( N = 165) manipulated warmth and competence traits of a fictitious animal species (wallons) and tested their effect on emotions and behaviors toward those animals. Stereotypical warm-competent and cold-incompetent wallons elicited fondness/delight and contempt/disgust, respectively. Cold-competent wallons primarily elicited threat but not awe. Warm-incompetent wallons were elusive targets, not eliciting specific emotions. The warmth dimension determined active behaviors, promoting facilitation (support/help) and reducing harm (kill/trap). The competence dimension determined passive behaviors, eliciting facilitation (conserve/monitor) and reducing harm (ignore/let them die off). Study 2 ( N = 112) tested the relation between animal stereotypes for twenty-five species and realistic scenarios concerning behavioral tendencies toward animals. Similar to Study 1, stereotypically warm (vs. cold) animals matched with active scenarios, eliciting more facilitation (i.e., national health campaign) but less harm (i.e., fighting animals). Stereotypically competent (vs. incompetent) animals matched with passive scenarios, eliciting more facilitation (i.e., restricted areas) but less harm (i.e., accidental mortality). Accordingly, stereotypes limited the suitability of scenarios toward animals. Although findings are consistent with the SCM/BIAS map framework, several unpredicted results emerged. The mixed support is discussed in detail, along with the implications of an intergroup approach to animals.

AntecedentsPrevious research on citizens’ reactions after terrorist events has shown that positive reactions can also emerge alongside pain and horror. Positive emotions have been widely associated with an abstract style of thinking. In the context of the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, we explored Spanish citizens’ positive reactions – empathic concern, positive emotional climate, and esteem for humanity – and examined the relationships of these responses with an abstract (vs. concrete) style of thinking.MethodA longitudinal study was designed involving an online questionnaire that was administered 10 days, 3 weeks, and 2 months after the attacks (N = 253).ResultsEmpathic concern and personal distress toward Parisians decreased from the weeks following the attacks to 2 months later, with empathic concern always being more intense than personal distress. Emotional climate was perceived as more hostile than positive, although positive feelings persisted. People reported moderately positive esteem for humanity. Individuals with a more abstract style of thinking reported greater empathic concern, a more positive emotional climate, and more esteem for humanity.ConclusionsOur results support and extend previous research showing that abstraction enhances people’s resilience, even under traumatic circumstances such as those surrounding a terrorist attack.

espanolEn este texto se presentan algunas reflexiones, desde una perspectiva psicoambiental, sobre como el confinamiento prolongado a causa de la pandemia de COVID-19 afecta a la poblacion general y cuales pudieran ser las consecuencias derivadas en la investigacion futura en este campo EnglishThis text presents some reflections from an environmental psychology perspective on how prolonged confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the general population and what the consequences might be for future research in the field

Background: Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with an extremely low human development index (HDI). Fifty-two percent of the Nicaraguan population are children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Nicaraguan adolescents present several risk behaviors (such as teenage pregnancies, consumption of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis). Our study examines the links between risk behaviors, fatalism, real economic scarcity, and concrete construal level for adolescents with low and middle-low socioeconomic status in Nicaragua. Methods: Nicaraguan adolescents (N = 834) from schools located in especially vulnerable areas (low economic status) or in neighborhoods with middle-low social class completed several scales and questions to evaluate fatalism (SFC-social fatalism scale), construal level (BIF) and their past and future risk behaviors (smoking cigarettes, smoking cannabis, unsafe sex, and alcohol consumption). Results: We identified that the poorest individuals who maintained a concrete style of thinking had the highest rates of past and future risk behaviors. This vulnerable group also reported the highest levels of fatalism, i.e., negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness. Encouragingly, the adolescents who were able to maintain an abstract mindset reported healthier past and future habits and lower fatalism, even when they belonged to the lowest social status. In the middle-low economic group, the construal level was not as relevant to maintaining healthy habits, as adolescents reported similar rates of past and future risk behavior at both construal levels. Conclusions: All these results support the importance of considering construal level when studying vulnerable populations and designing risk prevention programs.

En este monográfico se presentan 10 propuestas teóricas sobre la forma en que la Psicología Social puede —potencialmente— ayudar a afrontar la pandemia del COVID-19. En concreto, en estas propuestas se discute: a) cómo se podrían utilizar distintos modelos teóricos para entender mejor la pandemia, sus consecuencias y cómo afrontarlas; b) la importancia de considerar variables —como la clase social o el género— al examinar las causas y consecuencias de la pandemia; c) los retos y las preguntas de investigación que se podrían abordar desde algunos ámbitos de aplicación psicosociales, como la Psicología Ambiental, la Psicología Organizacional y la Psicología Social Comunitaria.

Treves et al.’s target article emphasizes the importance of including nonhuman animals in the scope of conservation frameworks, countering an anthropocentric orientation in conservation biology. In support, I discuss how stereotypes of other animal species may bias our behavior toward them.

El medio ambiente se ha considerado tradicionalmente como una entidad unitaria sin prestar atención a los distintos elementos que lo componen (suelo, agua, atmósfera, flora, fauna y los procesos que los inter-relacionan). Por ello, la adscripción de motivaciones de tipo biocéntrico o antropocéntrico a las personas se ha realizado en relación con el medio ambiente global. Esta investigación presta atención a uno de los elementos del medio ambiente, los animales, que ha sido poco estudiado en la preocupación por el medio ambiente. Se exploran las diferentes razones (antropocéntricas o biocéntricas) que manifiestan 169 estudiantes argentinos universitarios ante la gravedad de los problemas ambientales en general y de los zoológicos en particular. Las respuestas de carácter biocéntrico fueron más predominantes en las opiniones acerca de los zoológicos que en relación a las opiniones sobre la problemática ambiental. Esta valoración positiva del bienestar de los animales se matiza cuando se consideran las respuestas sobre preferencia, miedo y asco ante distintas especies animales: (i) se prefieren los mamíferos y se rechazan los artrópodos (comparación entre grupos taxonómicos); y (ii) se prefieren especies exóticas ausentes de los ecosistemas argentinos, rechazándose especies comunes. Se discute el papel que jugarían los procesos empáticos.

This text presents some reflections from an environmental psychology perspective on how prolonged confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the general population and what the consequences might be for future research in the field.

Just as people seem to come in types (middle-class, rich, old, homeless), so do animals (pets, predators, prey, pests). The societal images of animal species reflect socially shared beliefs about different animals – social stereotypes. Similar to the case of human social groups, animal stereotypes could predict human emotions and behaviors toward different animals. Accordingly, in parallel to human-human intergroup responses, this chapter develops a new human-animal intergroup framework linking humans’ beliefs (stereotypes), emotions (prejudice), and behaviors (discrimination) toward animal species, drawing on the Stereotype Content Model and Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes Map. Expanding the human-animal intergroup framework, the types of human intergroup conflicts and human-animal conflicts are compared. An intergroup relations approach can contribute to the study of human-animal relations by taking into account different kinds of animal species’ stereotypes, as well as similarities between human-human and human-animal conflicts.

Marino & Merskin's target article contrasts our ambivalent social ideas about sheep with the empirical evidence of their complex capacities, particularly cognitive ones. To extend our understanding of human-sheep relations, I discuss human social perception of animals and structural variables that predict our stereotypes.