Why did COVID-19 hit some countries harder than others? While this question is usually answered based on demographics (e. g., population age), health policy (e.g., quarantine), or economic factors, we argue that cultural variance across countries is just as crucial in understanding how susceptible a society is to the COVID-19 outbreak. To test this hypothesis, we first analyzed data collected across 69 countries and examined the relationship between culture and the impact of COVID. Next, we conducted two studies to validate our findings further and explore the mechanism at hand. As expected, we found that the more individualistic (vs. collectivistic) a country was, the more COVID-19 cases and mortalities it had. We also found that the more individualistic participants were, the higher the chances they would not adhere to epidemic prevention measures. These findings are important in understanding the spread of the pandemic, devising optimal exit strategies from lockdowns, and persuading the population to get the new vaccine against the virus.

People believe that they are entitled to well-being and safety, and their responses to unexpected traumatic events reveal individual differences. Their reactions vary, from feeling blocked and distressed to feeling proactive towards new growth, depending on their personal resources. The current study sought to identify the role of entitlement in explaining post-traumatic growth (PTG) while considering the role of gratitude and hope as personal resources. We used a community-based sample of Israeli adults (n = 182) who reported experiencing a traumatic event during the preceding year. The relationships between PTG and their sense of entitlement, gratitude, and hope were examined. A stepwise multiple hierarchical regression revealed that all the three variables were associated with PTG. However, the effect of hope turned insignificant with the inclusion of sense of entitlement and gratitude in the regression. Sense of entitlement and gratitude were independently associated with PTG. The theoretical contribution of these findings is discussed, as well as their interventional implications and future directions. Keywords Post-traumatic growth • Sense of entitlement • Hope • GratitudeThroughout their lives, most individuals experience some traumatic events, such as the unexpected death of a relative, a life-threatening disease, or an injury (Benjet et al., 2016). There is a high prevalence of lifetime exposure to potentially traumatic events, estimated at nearly 70% in community samples (

We examined whether beliefs about malleability moderate observers' motives for justice, expressed in a desire for either retribution, in which punishment is based on what o enders deserve for their o ense (past-oriented), or rehabilitation, in which punishment is intended to improve the o enders (futureoriented). The main hypothesis was that people with a xed mindset would tend to support punishment motivated by retribution rather than rehabilitation, and the reverse was expected for those with a malleable mindset. We recruited participants (N = 432) through the platform Proli c and asked them to complete an online questionnaire. We rst manipulated participants' mindset (malleable vs. xed) and then the salience of a speci c justice motive (retribution vs. rehabilitation). Finally, participants read a vignette depicting an incident of professional misconduct and were asked to indicate their support for the punishment of the o ender. Our results did not con rm our main hypothesis, but the exploratory results indicated a partial con rmation as a function of political orientation: in the malleable mindset condition, support for punishment among liberals was higher in the rehabilitation condition than in the retribution condition, whereas the reverse e ect was observed among moderately conservative participants. We discuss the possible limitations of the study and future research avenues.