Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Cultural Influences on Personality01:26

Cultural Influences on Personality

107
Individualist and collectivist cultures emphasize different core values, shaping personality in distinct ways. In individualist cultures, such as those in the United States, England, and Australia, people prioritize independence, competition, and personal achievement. These societies tend to promote self-focused traits, with individuals often reporting higher levels of self-esteem. In contrast, collectivist cultures, commonly found in regions like Asia, Africa, and South America, emphasize...
107
Social Proof00:52

Social Proof

27.3K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
27.3K
Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory01:20

Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory

124
Cognitive psychologist Richard Lazarus proposed the cognitive-mediational theory of emotions, which emphasizes how individuals' assessments of stressors significantly affect their experience of stress. According to Lazarus, the stress response is determined by a two-step appraisal process: primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. These cognitive appraisals help individuals evaluate the potential impact of a stressor and determine the adequacy of their coping resources.
Primary Appraisal:...
124
Fundamental Attribution Error01:14

Fundamental Attribution Error

12.8K
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...
12.8K
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification03:00

Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

5.2K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
5.2K
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies02:09

Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies

37.3K
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
37.3K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Objective sleep efficiency links to cortisol stress recovery via dorsolateral prefrontal-hippocampal regulation.

Psychological medicine·2026
Same author

Beyond attention: methylphenidate reduces dishonesty in healthy adults.

Psychopharmacology·2026
Same author

Self-allocation bias in performance-based cooperative decisions is driven by self-interest rather than distorted performance encoding.

PLoS biology·2026
Same author

Distinct landscapes of T-cell immunity and TCR repertoire between sepsis and pre-septic high-risk states.

Frontiers in immunology·2026
Same author

Neural signature underlying the effect of intranasal vasopressin on emotional responses to spontaneous social comparison.

NeuroImage·2026
Same author

BnaGRP3 mediates salt tolerance via Na<sup>+</sup>/K<sup>+</sup> homeostasis and BnaPIPs interactions in Brassica napus.

Journal of advanced research·2026
Same journal

Metacognitive and Interpersonal Intellectual Humility Are Asymmetrically Associated with Well-Being.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
Same journal

Intergroup Contact and Belonging Among Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
Same journal

A Taxonomy of Data Synthesis.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
Same journal

When and Why Beliefs About the Causes of a Policy Problem Predict Policy Support.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
Same journal

Prospects of Downward Mobility Cause Status Anxiety and Life Dissatisfaction.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
Same journal

Fluency as a Cue to Authenticity.

Personality & social psychology bulletin·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 21, 2025

Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters
07:29

Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters

Published on: November 22, 2019

8.2K

Cultural Differences in Vicarious Optimism.

Andreas Kappes1, Xinyuan Yan2, Molly J Crockett3

  • 1City, University of London, UK.

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|March 19, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cultural differences shape vicarious optimism, influencing prosocial behavior. Americans exhibit stronger optimism bias and vicarious optimism for strangers, while Chinese show it for friends.

Keywords:
culture and cognitionhelping/prosocial behaviorlearningoptimism biasvicarious optimism

More Related Videos

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
06:53

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

13.2K
The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
08:24

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

606

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 21, 2025

Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters
07:29

Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters

Published on: November 22, 2019

8.2K
Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
06:53

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Published on: March 1, 2017

13.2K
The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
08:24

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

606

Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Cultural Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Beliefs about others influence prosocial behavior.
  • People exhibit vicarious optimism, a bias in updating beliefs about others' futures.
  • Cultural context may shape vicarious optimism and subsequent prosocial actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how culture influences vicarious optimism.
  • To compare learning from positive and negative news about oneself, friends, and strangers across cultures.

Main Methods:

  • A pre-registered study involving 963 Chinese and American participants.
  • Measurement of learning from good and bad news for self, friends, and strangers.
  • Cross-cultural comparison of optimism bias and vicarious optimism.

Main Results:

  • American participants displayed greater optimism bias and vicarious optimism than Chinese participants.
  • Chinese participants showed vicarious optimism primarily for friends.
  • American participants exhibited the strongest vicarious optimism for identifiable strangers.

Conclusions:

  • Cultural factors significantly influence vicarious optimism and learning biases.
  • Differences in vicarious optimism across cultures may impact prosocial behavior.
  • Culture shapes social behavior by biasing how individuals learn about others' futures.