Browsing by Author "Besta, Tomasz"

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Anti-Immigration Conspiracy Beliefs Are Associated With Endorsement of Conventional and Violent Actions Opposing Immigration and Attitudes Towards Democracy Across 21 Countries
(SpringerNature, 2025) Thomas, Emma F.; Stothard, Christina; Besta, Tomasz; Akbas, Gulcin; Becker, Julia C.; Becker, Maja; van Zomeren, Martijn; Department of Psychology; 02. School of Arts and Sciences; 01. Atılım University
Despite widespread speculation that conspiracy beliefs foster anti-democratic outcomes, the empirical picture is inconsistent. To clarify this literature, we examine the relationships that conspiracy beliefs have with commitment to reactionary action and criticism of democracy, focusing on a global issue: immigration. We expected that people who believe that their government uses immigration to diversify the population against citizens' wishes (anti-migration conspiracy beliefs) would be more committed to conventional and violent action to oppose immigration, and more critical of democracy. However, societal-level factors - economic performance and democratic functioning - were expected to influence (strengthen, weaken) these links. As hypothesized, multi-level analyses (N = 4353) from 21 countries revealed that economic prosperity attenuated the positive link between anti-migration conspiracy beliefs and commitment to reactionary action. Paradoxically, more democratic societies evidenced stronger links between conspiracy beliefs and conventional (but not violent) action to oppose immigration. Thus, more democratic societies appear to invite conventional forms of action to oppose immigration which may, in turn, weaken democratic norms of inclusion. Results highlight the interplay of individual- and societal-level factors underlying illiberal movements.
Citation - WoS: 47
Citation - Scopus: 62
Country-Level and Individual-Level Predictors of Men's Support for Gender Equality in 42 Countries
(Wiley, 2020) Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Besta, Tomasz; Bosson, Jennifer K.; Jurek, Pawel; Vandello, Joesph A.; Best, Deborah L.; Zukauskiene, Rita; 01. Atılım University
Men sometimes withdraw support for gender equality movements when their higher gender status is threatened. Here, we expand the focus of this phenomenon by examining it cross-culturally, to test if both individual- and country-level variables predict men's collective action intentions to support gender equality. We tested a model in which men's zero-sum beliefs about gender predict reduced collective action intentions via an increase in hostile sexism. Because country-level gender equality may threaten men's higher gender status, we also examined whether the path from zero-sum beliefs to collective action intentions was stronger in countries higher in gender equality. Multilevel modeling on 6,734 men from 42 countries supported the individual-level mediation model, but found no evidence of moderation by country-level gender equality. Both country-level gender equality and individual-level zero-sum thinking independently predicted reductions in men's willingness to act collectively for gender equality.
Cultural Logics of Honor, Face, and Dignity as Moderators of the Relationship Between Group Process and Pro-Migrant Collective Action Intentions
(Elsevier, 2025) Besta, Tomasz; Thomas, Emma; Celikkol, Goksu; Olech, Michal; Jurek, Pawel; Van Zomeren, Martijn; Wlodarczyk, Anna; 01. Atılım University
Although group identification, efficacy, and injustice appraisals are well-established predictors of collective action support, contextual factors are rarely examined. We address this oversight in preregistered study by testing whether country-level norms moderate the relationships identity, anger at injustice, and efficacy have with support for pro-immigrant solidarity collective action using data from 22 countries (N = 4615). Given that cultures that emphasize honor and face prioritize harmony and social cohesion over conflict, we expected that honor codes and face orientation would attenuate the links identity, injustice, and efficacy have with collective action support. Results showed that identification, efficacy, and anger at injustice were linked to collective action intentions in most countries, but honor codes attenuated the relationship between anger and collective action intentions. We further discuss the implications and limitations of these results in light of cross-cultural studies of pro-immigrant attitudes and actions. Overall, our findings complement research on predictors of collective action and the dual-chamber model of collective action by presenting potential cultural constraints.
Citation - WoS: 37
Citation - Scopus: 40
Gendered Self-Views Across 62 Countries: a Test of Competing Models
(Sage Publications inc, 2023) Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Bosson, Jennifer K.; Jurek, Pawel; Besta, Tomasz; Olech, Michal; Vandello, Joseph A.; Zadkowska, Magdalena; 01. Atılım University
Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries' more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countries. Using data from 62 countries (N = 28,640), we examine binary gender gaps in agentic and communal self-views as a function of country-level objective gender equality (the Global Gender Gap Index) and subjective distributions of social power (the Power Distance Index). Findings show that in more egalitarian countries, gender gaps in agency are smaller and gender gaps in communality are larger. These patterns are driven primarily by cross-country differences in men's self-views and by the Power Distance Index (PDI) more robustly than the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). We consider possible causes and implications of these findings.
Citation - WoS: 1
Liking Low-Status? Contextual and Individual Differences in Attributional Biases of Low-Status Outgroup Members
(Psychopen, 2019) Besta, Tomasz; Akbas, Gulcin; Renstrom, Emma A.; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Vazquez, Alexandra; Department of Psychology; 02. School of Arts and Sciences; 01. Atılım University
Previous studies on biased intergroup perceptions of outgroups' irrationality mostly treated the target groups as opponents and rivals. In three studies, we extended this line of research and tested the hypothesis that individuals who challenge the existing social hierarchy exhibit more positive biases toward low-status outgroup members. We also hypothesized that when irrational thinking is framed as an important human trait, this bias is reduced among low social dominance orientation (SDO) individuals. In three studies (N = 169, N = 450, and N = 161), conducted in countries that vary in power distance levels (Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey), we examined under which conditions low-status outgroups are perceived as more rational than ingroup members. The results show that in a condition without irrationality framed as a human trait, psychology students (Study 1 and Study 2) and nonstudents low in group-based dominance orientation (Study 3) perceive outgroup members as less irrational than ingroup members. However, when participants were reminded that irrationality is a human trait, the perceived differences between in- and outgroup members were reduced. This effect was observed in all four countries (Study 1 and Study 2) and held when variables related to the tendency to behave in a socially desirable way were controlled for (Study 3).
Citation - WoS: 68
Citation - Scopus: 73
Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations
(Sage Publications inc, 2021) Bosson, Jennifer K.; Jurek, Pawel; Vandello, Joseph A.; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Olech, Michal; Besta, Tomasz; Zukauskiene, Rita; 01. Atılım University
Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data from university samples in 62 countries across 13 world regions (N = 33,417), we demonstrate: (1) the psychometric isomorphism of the PMB (i.e., its comparability in meaning and statistical properties across the individual and country levels); (2) the PMB's distinctness from, and associations with, ambivalent sexism and ambivalence toward men; and (3) associations of the PMB with nation-level gender equality and human development. Findings are discussed in terms of their statistical and theoretical implications for understanding widely-held beliefs about the precariousness of the male gender role.