Persona:
Vázquez Botana, Alexandra

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alx.vazquez@psi.uned.es
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0000-0002-6040-9102
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Vázquez Botana
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Alexandra
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2020 - 202521
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Mostrando 1 - 10 de 21
  • Miniatura
    Publicación
    Shared dysphoric experiences activate identity fusion, but not forever
    (Wiley, 2025-12-14) Bautista Carrasco, Montserrat; Rodríguez Fregenal, Sara; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Martínez Díaz, Mercedes Victoria; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
    Identity fusion is a synergistic union of the personal self and target of fusion that predicts extreme behaviours on its behalf. Previous work identified that intense shared dysphoric experiences cause fusion with groups, but no research to date has investigated changes in fusion before, during and after a collective traumatic experience. Six repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted in Spain (2017–2022) (Study 1) showed that differences between sample means in fusion with the country increased during the COVID-19 pandemic but decreased when the COVID-19 subsided. In addition, an experiment provided support for these results (Study 2), since making salient the COVID-19 crisis (vs. neutral situation) increased fusion with the country. Finally, three additional repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted in Ukraine (Study 3), one month before the war, one month after the war began and eight months later, replicated that differences between sample means in fusion increased just when the war started, but decreased when the conflict turned chronic. The effects were replicated for fusion with a value, democracy. Apparently, dysphoric experiences represent a temporary drive of fusion, but not a maintenance factor.
  • Miniatura
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    Threat Enhances Aggressive Inclinations Among Devoted Actors Via Increase in Their Relative Physical Formidability
    (Sage Journals, 2020-03-12) Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; López-Rodríguez, Lucía; Gómez Jiménez, Ángel; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
    Devoted actors—those who share sacred values with a group with which they are fused—are particularly willing to self-sacrifice to defend their group or values when they are threatened. Here, we explore whether they are also prone to aggressive inclinations toward those who endanger their group or convictions. To that end, we examined the effect of threat and the two components of the devoted actor framework—identity fusion and sacred values—on aggressive inclinations. These inclinations were registered with a videogame that allowed participants to destroy ingroup and outgroup symbols. Two experiments indicated that devoted actors reacted to threats to their ingroup and value by increasing aggressive inclinations against the rival group. This effect was apparently mediated by the perceived physical strength of the ingroup versus foes. Results suggest that devoted actors might be more prone to self-sacrifice, but also to attack those who threaten their group or values.
  • Miniatura
    Publicación
    Prejudice against members of a ridiculed working-class group
    (Wiley, 2020-03-09) Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Lois García, David
    In five experiments, we examined the stereotypes, emotions, and behavioural intentions associated with a Spanish working-class group, known as chonis. We described a student (Experiments 1–3) or job candidate (Experiments 4–5) and presented participants with a picture showing a woman characterized either as choni or posh (an upper-class group, Experiments 2–4) or with no picture (Experiments 1, 3–5). Depending on the condition, explicit information about her high social class (Experiment 1), performance (Experiment 3), or category (Experiment 5) was provided. Participants evaluated the candidate more negatively, felt less admiration, and were less willing to interact with her or to recommend her for a job when she was categorized as choni as compared to the other categories. These effects disappeared if the student/candidate had high socioeconomic status or performed excellently in the academic domain, but they were magnified for highly (vs. weakly) materialistic individuals. Class prejudice apparently has harmful effects on disadvantaged individuals, but can be mitigated by explicit information.
  • Miniatura
    Publicación
    Positive contact with working-class people reduces personal contribution to inequality
    (SAGE Publications, 2022-07-15) Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Sayans Jiménez, Pablo; López Rodríguez, Lucía; Lois García, David; Hanna Zagefka
    The current research investigates the effect of a type of intergroup contact that has rarely been studied to date, class-based contact, on one’s personal contribution to inequality. We conducted two studies with middle and upper class individuals. We first longitudinally examined whether positive contact with working-class people reduces contribution to inequality (i.e., participants stating that they themselves contribute to maintaining the social hierarchy) whilst controlling for ideological factors. Lower levels of contribution to inequality were present in people with more and better contact, but the change over time was small in the absence of experimental manipulation. An experiment then showed that recall of positive (vs. negative) contact with working-class people reduced participants’ contribution to inequality and increased their willingness to participate in collective action for equality. These results suggest that facilitating spaces where members of different social classes can have positive interactions can contribute to reducing inequality.
  • Miniatura
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    How identity fusion predicts extreme pro-group orientations: A meta-analysis
    (Taylor & Francis Group, 2023-03-29) Hustad Varmann, Anders; Kruse, Line; Bierwiaczonek, Kinga; Gómez, Ángel; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; R. Kunst, Jonas
    Researchers have productively tested identity fusion theory, aiming to explain extreme pro-group orientations. However, the strength of effects, types of measurements, and study contexts have varied substantially. This first meta-analysis (90 studies from 55 reports, 106 effects, N = 36,880) supported four main conclusions based on the available literature: (1) identity fusion has a strong and positive but very heterogeneous relationship with extreme pro-group orientations; (2) its effect is significantly stronger than that of social identification; however, some evidence suggests that this difference is primarily observed in published rather than unpublished studies; (3) the verbal identity fusion scale has the best explanatory power; (4) identity fusion is most strongly associated with extreme collective action, followed by a willingness to sacrifice oneself, fight or die for the group, and outgroup hostility. We discuss the findings’ implication for identity fusion theory. Based on the literature’s limitations, we highlight avenues for future research.
  • Miniatura
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    Transcultural pathways to the will to fight
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2023-06-06) Gómez Jiménez, Ángel; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Atran, Scott
    The ‘Will to Fight Act’ was amended to the nation's annual defense bill (FY2023 NDAA) urging attention to assessing will to fight, after debate acknowledging that current evaluation efforts within the political and military establishment remain contentious, fragmented, and meager. This likely will persist, along with attendant policy failures and grievous costs, without awareness of research that the social and psychological sciences reveal on the will to fight [S. Atran, Science 373, 1063 (2021)]. We illustrate such research using converging data from a multimethod and multicultural approach, including field and online studies from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. These studies reveal specific psychosocial pathways, within a general causal framework, that predict willingness to make costly sacrifices, including to cooperate, fight, and die in war and sustained conflict. From the continuing strife in Iraq to embattled Ukraine, 31 studies were conducted in 9 countries with nearly 12,000 participants. These include people in longstanding conflicts, refugees, imprisoned jihadists and gangs, US military, studies in Ukraine before and during the current war, and rolling studies with a European ally of Ukraine. Results provide evidence for a mediation model of transcultural pathways to the will to fight. Building on our previous behavioral and brain research, on the battlefield in Iraq, with violent extremists, and with US military, the linear mediation yielding the will to fight involves identity fusion, perceived spiritual formidability, and trust. The model, a variation on “The Devoted Actor Framework,” applies to primary reference groups, core cultural values, and leaders.
  • Miniatura
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    Exposure to Motivational Messages Promotes Meritocratic Beliefs and an Individualistic Perception of Social Change
    (SAGE Publications, 2023-11-28) Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Reyes Valenzuela, Carlos; Villagrán, Loreto; Lois García, David
    Some critics claim that the self-help industry legitimizes inequality by enhancing individualism and meritocratic beliefs. The present research aims to provide experimental support to these assumptions by exploring the effect of motivational messages on meritocratic beliefs and the perceived effectiveness of individual and collective action to promote social change toward equality and on collective action intentions. Across three experiments, 663 participants were exposed to motivational messages either by copying short quotes or watching a short video containing those same quotes. As compared with a control condition, exposure to motivational messages strengthened meritocratic beliefs and, in turn, increased the perceived effectiveness of individual action in promoting social change and undermined the perceived effectiveness of collective action and subsequently collective action intentions. These findings fuel the debate on the individualistic bias and meritocratic orientation of the self-help industry and highlight the need to analyze its impact on social and economic justice.
  • Miniatura
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    Strongly fused individuals feel viscerally responsible to self-sacrifice
    (The British Psychological Society, 2022-10) Chinchilla Calero, Juana Francisca; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Gómez Jiménez, Ángel
    Identity fusion is a visceral feeling of oneness that predicts extreme behaviour on behalf of the target of fusion. We propose that strongly fused individuals are characterized by feelings of visceral responsibility towards such target – unconditional, instinctive, and impulsive drive to care, protect and promote its well-being and interests – that motivates them to self-sacrifice. Two studies offered initial support when the target of fusion is an individual or a group (Studies 1a-1b). A final study added causal evidence that strongly fused learning that most ingroup members did not feel visceral responsibility towards the group expressed less willingness to self-sacrifice than those learning that ingroup members display high levels of visceral responsibility (Study 2). These findings offer novel evidence for the mechanisms underlying the effects of fusion on extreme behaviour on behalf of the target of fusion and the attenuation of its consequences.
  • Miniatura
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    Spiritual over physical formidability determines willingness to fight and sacrifice through loyalty in cross-cultural populations
    (PNAS, 2022-02-07) Tossella, Chad C.; Gómez Jiménez, Ángel; De Visser, Ewart J.; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Donadio, Bianca T.; Metcalfe, Amanda; Rogan, Charles; Davis, Richard; Atran, Scott; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
    Across 11 studies involving six countries from four continents (n =3,285), we extend insights from field investigations in conflict zones to offline and online surveys to show that personal spiritual formidability—the conviction and immaterial resources (values, strengths of beliefs, character) of a person to fight—is positively associated with the will to fight and sacrifice for others. The physical formidability of groups in conflict has long been promoted as the primary factor in human decisions to fight or flee in times of conflict. Here, studies in Spain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Morocco reveal that personal spiritual formidability, a construct distinct from religiosity, is more strongly associated with the willingness to fight and make costly self-sacrifices for the group than physical formidability. A follow-on study among cadets of the US Air Force Academy further indicates that this effect is mediated by a stronger loyalty to the group, a finding replicated in a separate study with a European sample. The results demonstrate that personal spiritual formidability is a primary determinant of the will to fight across cultures, and this individual-level factor, propelled by loyal bonds made with others, disposes citizens and combatants to fight at great personal risk.
  • Miniatura
    Publicación
    Acknowledging that Men are Moral and Harmed by Gender Stereotypes Increases Men’s Willingness to Engage in Collective Action on Behalf of Women
    (Springer, 2024-03-02) López Rodríguez, Lucía; Vázquez Botana, Alexandra; Marco Brambilla; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9153-0220; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4774-3309
    The rise of far-right parties with antifeminist sentiments constitutes a new challenge in the path to gender equality. Here, we aim to identify strategies to promote men’s acceptance of social change towards equality. Thus, we first examined key concerns about gender equality held by far-right supporters through a discourse analysis of 120 men. The findings revealed a focus on male victimhood, the negation and only partial recognition of inequality, and the delegitimization of feminism. Given the centrality of victimhood in the discourse of far-right male supporters and its social relevance, we developed several non-confrontational strategies based on men’s suffering and supposed (im)morality, and then compared the effectiveness of these strategies for getting men to commit more to gender equality. Two experimental studies (n = 417 and 428 men) revealed that recognizing that men are generally moral or that they also suffer because of gender stereotypes led participants to increase their willingness to participate in collective action for women’s rights. In contrast, questioning their morality by denouncing men’s violence against women had no impact on their intentions. We conclude that non-confrontational strategies that address men's concerns about feminist advancement can prevent potential defensive reactions and make them more receptive to social change towards gender equality.