Papers by Siobhan Griffin
Primary stressors are direct outcomes of extreme events (e.g., viruses, floodwater) whereas secon... more Primary stressors are direct outcomes of extreme events (e.g., viruses, floodwater) whereas secondary stressors stem from pre-disaster life circumstances and societal arrangements (e.g., illness, problematic pre-disaster policies) or from inefficient responses to the extreme event. Secondary stressors can cause significant long-term damage to people affected but are also tractable and amenable to change. In this study we explored whether psychological wellbeing is negatively associated with secondary stressors and positively associated with social identity-based processes. Pre-registered analyses of data from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey Round II (N = 14,600; 43 countries) show that secondary stressors are negatively associated with psychological wellbeing even when controlling for the effects of primary stressors. Being a woman or having lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with lower psychological wellbeing and higher exposure to secondary stressors. Importantly, socia...
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Oct 10, 2022
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVIDiSTRESS Consortium launched an open-accessglo... more During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVIDiSTRESS Consortium launched an open-accessglobal survey to understand and improve individuals’ experiences related to the crisis. A year later,we extended this line of research by launching a new survey to address the dynamic landscape of thepandemic. This survey was released with the goal of addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion byworking with over 150 researchers across the globe who collected data in 48 languages and dialectsacross 137 countries. The resulting cleaned dataset described here includes 15,740 of over 20,000responses. The dataset allows cross-cultural study of psychological wellbeing and behaviours a yearinto the pandemic. It includes measures of stress, resilience, vaccine attitudes, trust in government andscientists, compliance, and information acquisition and misperceptions regarding COVID-19. Openaccessraw and cleaned datasets with computed scores are available. Just as our initial COVIDiSTRESSdataset has ...
PNAS Nexus
At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize ... more At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar was found for morality as cooperation, s...
Nature Communications, 2022
Jay J. Van Bavel , Aleksandra Cichocka , Valerio Capraro, Hallgeir Sjåstad , John B. Nezlek , Tom... more Jay J. Van Bavel , Aleksandra Cichocka , Valerio Capraro, Hallgeir Sjåstad , John B. Nezlek , Tomislav Pavlović , Mark Alfano , Michele J. Gelfand, Flavio Azevedo , Michèle D. Birtel, Aleksandra Cislak , Patricia L. Lockwood , Robert Malcolm Ross , Koen Abts , Elena Agadullina , John Jamir Benzon Aruta , Sahba Nomvula Besharati , Alexander Bor , Becky L. Choma, Charles David Crabtree , William A. Cunningham, Koustav De , Waqas Ejaz , Christian T. Elbaek , Andrej Findor , Daniel Flichtentrei, Renata Franc , Biljana Gjoneska , June Gruber, Estrella Gualda, Yusaku Horiuchi, Toan Luu Duc Huynh , Agustin Ibanez , Mostak Ahamed Imran , Jacob Israelashvili, Katarzyna Jasko, Jaroslaw Kantorowicz , Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, André Krouwel , Michael Laakasuo , Claus Lamm , Caroline Leygue , Ming-Jen Lin , Mohammad Sabbir Mansoor , Antoine Marie , Lewend Mayiwar, Honorata Mazepus, Cillian McHugh , John Paul Minda , Panagiotis Mitkidis , Andreas Olsson , Tobias Otterbring , Dominic J. Packe...
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social f... more The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behavior change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behavior, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of individual differences and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; pe...
The COVIDiSTRESS Survey (https://osf.io/2ftma/) was one of the largest studies regarding the glob... more The COVIDiSTRESS Survey (https://osf.io/2ftma/) was one of the largest studies regarding the global impact of COVID-19 during the initial months of the 2020 pandemic (Lieberoth et al. 2021; Yamada et al. 2021). The survey was translated into 47 languages and administered in 179 countries and generated a rich dataset that has resulted in a comprehensive understanding of the global effects of the pandemic (Lieberoth et al. 2021; Yamada et al. 2021). This survey is an extension of the COVIDiSTRESS consortium project to assess the global impact of COVID-19 approximately one year after the initial survey. It is our goal to address questions that were left unanswered in the initial study and include countries that were not assessed.
Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 2022
Predicting positive psychosocial outcomes following an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) remains a chal... more Predicting positive psychosocial outcomes following an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) remains a challenge. Considerable research demonstrates that social group memberships can have positive effects on psychological well-being, particularly during life transitions. Social group memberships are argued to help people derive a sense of self. This prospective study examined if social group memberships (number of groups and connectedness with groups) could predict posttraumatic growth (PTG) in those affected by ABI. Thirty-six participants (10 females, Mage = 46.56, SD = 11.46) engaged in community rehabilitation services completed measures at two time-points. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the number of new group memberships (groups formed post-injury) predicted greater PTG at time 2, via stronger connectedness with these new group memberships (controlling for initial PTG). The observed results suggest that a focus on developing and strengthening connections with new group memberships...
Reducing the spread of infectious viruses (such as COVID-19) can depend on societal compliance wi... more Reducing the spread of infectious viruses (such as COVID-19) can depend on societal compliance with effective mitigations. Identifying factors that influence adherence can inform public policy. In many cases public health messaging has become highly moralized, focusing on the need to act for the greater good. In such contexts, a persons’ moral identity may influence behavior and serve to increase compliance through different mechanisms; if a person sees compliance as the right thing to do (internalization) and/or if a person perceives compliance as something others will notice as the right thing to do (symbolization). We argue that in societies that are more politically polarized a person’s political ideology may interact with their moral identity to predict compliance. We hypothesized that where polarization is high (e.g., USA), moral identity should positively predict compliance for liberals to a greater extent than for conservatives. However, this effect would not occur where pol...
Instructed reappraisal has previously been associated with a challenge-oriented cardiovascular re... more Instructed reappraisal has previously been associated with a challenge-oriented cardiovascular response profile, indexed by greater cardiac output (CO) and lower total peripheral resistance (TPR), in response to a single stress exposure. The present study builds on this research by employing a stress habituation paradigm where participants completed a speech task twice; in which prior to the second task participants heard reappraisal instructions (i.e., view feelings of stress arousal as something that is beneficial) or control instructions. This paradigm allowed us to (a) test if reappraisal aids cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress, and (b) examine if reappraisal leads to a within-participant change in CO/TPR responding from an uninstructed task to an instructed reappraisal task. Habitual use of reappraisal was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The analyses report upon 173 young adults (121 women, 52 men). Cardiovascular parameters were measured contin...
We are a group of researchers at the University of Limerick interested in Open Science principles... more We are a group of researchers at the University of Limerick interested in Open Science principles. We are engaging in the CREP Project to replicate Diener, et al. 2010.
Background: Although citizens in countries worldwide took coordinated steps to support collective... more Background: Although citizens in countries worldwide took coordinated steps to support collective public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, the processes that encourage citizens to adhere with COVID-19 restrictions are not fully understood. Method: A three-wave study with a sample of Irish citizens (N Wave 1 = 1,800) was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to examine the effect of national trust on individual and normative compliance with COVID-19 restrictions directly or indirectly through social cohesion. Two longitudinal mediation models were tested. Results: In the first model, national trust significantly and positively predicted social cohesion, which in turn significantly and positively predicted personal compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. The second model showed a similar pattern, whereby national trust significantly predicted social cohesion, which in turn predicted normative compliance with the restrictions. Conclusions: National trust and social cohesion...
Instructed use of reappraisal to regulate stress in the laboratory is typically associated with a... more Instructed use of reappraisal to regulate stress in the laboratory is typically associated with a more adaptive cardiovascular response to stress, indexed by either: (i) lower cardiovascular reactivity (CVR; e.g., lower blood pressure); or (ii) a challenge-oriented response profile (i.e., greater cardiac output paired with lower total peripheral resistance). In contrast, instructed use of suppression is associated with exaggerated CVR (e.g., greater heart rate, blood pressure). Despite this, few studies have examined if the habitual use of these strategies are related to cardiovascular responding during stress. The current study examined the relationship between cardiovascular responses to acute stress and individual differences in emotion regulation style: trait reappraisal, suppression, and emotion regulation difficulties. Forty-eight participants (25 women, 23 men) completed a standardised laboratory stress paradigm incorporating a 20-minute acclimatization period, a 10-minute ba...
International Review of Social Psychology, 2021
The effectiveness of measures introduced to minimise the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndr... more The effectiveness of measures introduced to minimise the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) depends on compliance from all members of society. The Irish response to COVID-19 has been framed as a collective effort, fostering national solidarity. However, dominant representations of the national community often unreflexively reaffirm the prototypicality of majority group members, implicitly marginalizing minority group members. This may have implications for adherence behaviours. We propose that majority/minority membership of the national community predicts adherence to COVID-19 health advice via prototypicality and national solidarity. In Study 1, we collected data online from Irish residents (N = 1,185) during the first wave of restrictions in Ireland's response. In Study 2, we collected data from Irish residents (N = 537) during the second wave of restrictions, with more targeted sampling of minority groups. Based on these two studies, there is no difference between minority and majority group members' adherence behaviours. However, mediation analysis showed that greater adherence to COVID-19 health advice is shown when group members perceive themselves to be prototypical of the Irish national community, and thereby show greater national solidarity. In Study 3, we manipulated an appeal to adhere to restrictions (N = 689) and show that an inclusive solidarity appeal increased reported intentions to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions compared to an exclusive solidarity appeal among minority group members. These findings suggest that appeals to national solidarity in response to COVID-19 will be most successful when they reference the diversity of the nation.
The present review critically examines research on the physiological consequences of reappraisal ... more The present review critically examines research on the physiological consequences of reappraisal and suppression use, distinguishing between trait emotion regulation style, and instructed use of emotion regulation. Drawing on the stress reactivity literature, we will highlight methodological issues with past research that may limit our understanding of how emotion regulation affects our stress responses. Recommendations for future research are outlined; including a consideration of task differences and the inclusion of a formal acclimatization and baseline period. This allows for a clearer understanding of how emotion regulation strategies translate to health and can help inform the next generation of both emotion regulation, and cardiovascular reactivity, research.
Laboratory tasks used to elicit a cardiovascular stress response in the laboratory can involve ei... more Laboratory tasks used to elicit a cardiovascular stress response in the laboratory can involve either active or passive coping. However, in previous work, passive stress tasks often incorporate a distinct physical stress element, such as the handgrip or cold pressor task, meaning observed changes in cardiovascular parameters may be the result of the physical element of the stressor rather than truly reflecting psychological stress. The present study aimed to establish the validity of a psychological passive stressor; one more analogous to active tasks than those previously employed in laboratory studies. Twenty-six young, healthy adults completed a speech task in the laboratory following a resting baseline period. Twelve months later, they were invited back to the laboratory and watched the video recording of their speech. Analyses confirmed that while both tasks elicited significant SBP and DBP change (all ps < .001), only the active task was associated with HR and CO reactivity...
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a devastating global health crisis. Without a vaccine or effecti... more The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a devastating global health crisis. Without a vaccine or effective medication, the best hope for mitigating virus transmission is collective behavior change and support for public health interventions (e.g., physical distancing, physical hygiene, and endorsement of health policies). In a large-scale international collaboration (N = 46,450 across 67 countries), we investigated why people adopted public health behaviors and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stages of the pandemic (April-May, 2020). Results revealed that respondents who identified more strongly with their nation consistently reported engagement in public health behaviors and greater support for public health policies. We also found a small effect of political orientation, indicating that left-wing respondents were more likely to report public health behaviors and support for public health measures than right-wing respondents. We d...
Social Identity by Siobhan Griffin
PNAS Nexus, 2022
At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize ... more At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.
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Papers by Siobhan Griffin
Social Identity by Siobhan Griffin