Belief in a Zero-Sum Game as a Social Axiom

Różycka-Tran, Joanna; Boski, Paweł; Wojciszke, Bogdan

doi:10.1177/0022022115572226

Cited by 133 publications

(192 citation statements)

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“…Personality was assessed with a 25-item measure of the five-factor (Big 5) model of personality (Brody and Ehrlichman, 1998) on a 7-point scale (1 = not at all true of me and 7 = very true of me ). Based on the correlational findings observed in prior studies (Taylor and McFatter, 2003; Różycka-Tran et al, 2015), we particularly considered extraversion (e.g., talkative, outgoing; α = 0.79), neuroticism (e.g., anxious, worrying; α = 0.85), and agreeableness (e.g., warm, generous; α = 0.71). One’s perceived socioeconomic status (SES), which relates with zero-sum thinking (Różycka-Tran et al, 2015), was measured by a commonly used scale (e.g., Kraus et al, 2009; “What level do you think your household income belongs to?”).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How a Good Sleep Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Zero-Sum Beliefs About Happiness

Shin

Kim

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Sleep, although a vital aspect of human functioning, has received scant attention in happiness research. This research examines the effect of sleep quality on life satisfaction, and one possible mechanism that bridges the two. One cognitive factor that might tie the relationship between sleep and life satisfaction is a belief about the (in) finite nature of happiness (zero-sum belief about happiness; ZBH), a mindset that occurs more under conditions of scarcity. Given the interconnections among experiences prompted by various types of scarcity (e.g., financial and calorie), we predicted that deprived cognitive resource caused by poor sleep may activate the ZBH, thereby hurting one’s life satisfaction. As expected, we found that sleep quality predicted the participants’ life satisfaction, even controlling for baseline variables. More importantly, this relationship was partially mediated by ZBH. This study opens interesting questions on a relatively unexamined role of non-social predictors, such as sleep, in well-being.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How a Good Sleep Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Zero-Sum Beliefs About Happiness

Shin

Kim

2018

Front. Psychol.

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“…Another recently identified social axiom is a “general belief about the antagonistic nature of social relations, shared by people in a society or culture and based on the implicit assumption that a finite amount of goods exists in the world, in which one person’s winning makes others the losers” ([13], p. 526). Stemming from game theory [14], it appears that there are relatively permanent convictions that social relations are like a zero-sum game (i.e., antagonistic), which can be measured using the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stemming from game theory [14], it appears that there are relatively permanent convictions that social relations are like a zero-sum game (i.e., antagonistic), which can be measured using the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale [13]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To measure the belief that life is conceived as a zero-sum game (i.e., perceived social antagonism), the BZSG scale was developed [13]. The tool consists of eight items reflecting beliefs about antagonistic competition over scarce resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This scale was first used in a study on a Polish national sample ( N = 1,133), and psychometric properties of the BZSG scale have already been described [15]. Moreover, several experimental and correlational studies have been performed with different samples, which found that the BZSG correlates with a host of judgmental and behavioral variables [13,16]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A test of construct isomorphism of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game scale: A multilevel 43-nation study

et al. 2018

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BackgroundWe examined the equivalence of the individual and the country-level factor structure of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale, a tool designed to measure antagonistic beliefs about social relations (i.e., perceived social antagonism) in the struggle for limited resources.AimsIn this article we focused on a test of construct isomorphism in a multilevel modeling approach. It was hypothesized that the BZSG measure satisfies all requirements for a strong level of configural isomorphism, and thus that it is useful to investigate BZSG at both the individual and the country levels. The relationships between the BZSG at a country level with other macro-socio-economic indicators were also investigated.MethodMultilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) was carried out on a cross-country sample composed of 11,368 participants from 43 different countries. We also used the country-level latent BZSG factor in each country as an indicator of a property that we attributed to a particular culture: cultural dimension (collectivism-individualism), macroeconomic indicators (GDP per capita and GNI per capita) and macrosocial indicators (Human Development Index and Democracy Index) describing societies.ResultsThe results revealed an isomorphic factor structure of perceived social antagonism (measured by BZSG scale), defined in terms of the equivalence factor structure at the both individual and country levels. Furthermore, the relationship between the perceived social antagonism, gross national income per capita, and collectivism were confirmed.ConclusionsOur study supports the usefulness of the BZSG scale for cross-cultural comparison, in the case of its isomorphic structure. At the country level, antagonistic beliefs emerge in hierarchical collectivist societies with lower income. The main contribution of this article is the presentation of the test of construct isomorphism. We made an effort to present a full perspective on construct isomorphism putting together two different but very recent approaches.

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Competition over collective victimhood recognition: When perceived lack of recognition for past victimization is associated with negative attitudes towards another victimized group

Guissmé

Licata

2017

Euro J Social Psych

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Groups that perceive themselves as victims can engage in “competitive victimhood.” We propose that, in some societal circumstances, this competition bears on the recognition of past sufferings—rather than on their relative severity—fostering negative intergroup attitudes. Three studies are presented. Study 1, a survey among Sub‐Saharan African immigrants in Belgium (N = 127), showed that a sense of collective victimhood was associated with more secondary anti‐Semitism. This effect was mediated by a sense of lack of victimhood recognition, then by the belief that this lack of recognition was due to that of Jews' victimhood, but not by competition over the severity of the sufferings. Study 2 replicated this mediation model among Muslim immigrants (N = 125). Study 3 experimentally demonstrated the negative effect of the unequal recognition of groups' victimhood on intergroup attitudes in a fictional situation involving psychology students (N = 183). Overall, these studies provide evidence that struggle for victimhood recognition can foster intergroup conflict.

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Belief in a Zero-Sum Game as a Social Axiom

Cited by 133 publications

References 61 publications

How a Good Sleep Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Zero-Sum Beliefs About Happiness

How a Good Sleep Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Zero-Sum Beliefs About Happiness

A test of construct isomorphism of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game scale: A multilevel 43-nation study

Competition over collective victimhood recognition: When perceived lack of recognition for past victimization is associated with negative attitudes towards another victimized group

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