Eric Bonetto

Interdisciplinary PhD Lab/Aix-Marseille University

Creativity seems to yield survival and reproductive benefits. Creative behaviors allow individuals to solve problems in new and appropriate ways, and thus to promote their survival. They also facilitate bonding and constitute a signal of one’s fitness, favoring attraction of mates. However, to be creative, individuals often have to violate social n...

Collective action is a key driver of social and political change within societies. So far, the main factor mobilizing individuals into collective action remains the extent to which they feel identified with a protesting group (i.e., social identification). Although the link between social identification and collective action is well-established, cu...

Background: Social distancing and mass quarantines were implemented worldwide in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research has shown that such measures bear negative consequences for population mental health and well-being. Conversely, a growing body of evidence suggests that feeling positively identified with a group is associated...

This study examines the evolution of Schwartz’s Basic Human Values during the Covid-19 outbreak, and their relationships with perceived threat, compliance with movement restrictions and social distancing. An online questionnaire was administered to a heterogeneous sample of French citizens (N = 1025) during the first French lockdown related to the...

The assessment of population mental health relies on survey data from representative samples, which come with considerable costs. Drawing on research which established that absolutist words (e.g. never) are semantic markers for depression, we propose a new measure of population mental health based on the frequency of absolutist words in online sear...

How can scientific creativity be fostered or encouraged among researchers ? The present contribution proposes a critical and constructive review of programs or methods designed to develop the creative abilities of individuals, the so-called 'creativity trainings'. More specifically, it examines whether these trainings can be used in the specific co...

In line with the social cure literature, the present preregistered study aimed to test the extent to which group identification could have beneficial effects for PhD candidates, in particular by promoting their mental health, mitigating their feelings of imposture, and promoting their work. An online questionnaire was distributed to a convenience s...

Research over the past decade has shown that endorsement of conspiracy theories (CTs) is shaped by motivated cognition processes. Accordingly, CTs are theorized to stem from compensatory processes, as individuals attempt to cope with existential threats (i.e., uncertainty, loss of control). Based on the meaning maintenance model, we investigated wh...

Recent studies suggest that eco-anxiety motivates pro-environmental behaviors. However, these studies are all cross-sectional in nature, and they frequently neglect possible important confounding variables (e.g., ecological identity). The present study was designed to deepen our understanding of the effect of eco-anxiety on pro-environmental behavi...

Research over the past decade has shown that endorsement of conspiracy theories (CTs) are shaped by motivated cognition processes. Accordingly, CTs are theorized to stem from compensatory processes, as individuals attempt to cope with existential threats (i.e., uncertainty, loss of control). Based on the Meaning Maintenance Model, we investigated w...

Recent studies suggest that eco-anxiety motivates pro-environmental behaviors. However, these studies are all cross-sectional in nature, and they frequently neglect possible important confounding variables (e.g., ecological identity). The present study was designed to deepen our understanding of the effect of eco-anxiety on pro-environmental behavi...

Where are the observations in psychology ? Recurrent criticisms have been addressed to psychology for its excessive focus on hypothesis testing, and its disregard for the descriptive, exploratory and observational approaches commonly found in the other natural sciences (e.g., zoology, ethology, behavioral ecology, behavioral biology, primatology)....

The term 'creative' is commonly used in everyday language and in academic discourse to discuss the nature of artistic and innovative productions. This usage inherently implies the existence of a variable of creativity that allows different creative works to be compared. The standard definition of creativity asserts that a production must possess bo...

The 7C’s of creativity (Lubart, 2017) summarize scientific contributions in seven categories as a function of their main object of interest in relation to creativity: Creators, Creating, Collaboration, Context, Creations, Consumption, and Curricula. In its attempt to grasp these different dimensions of the phenomenon of creativity, the psychology o...

Cooking is considered a creative activity. We observe creativity not only in the kitchens of Michelin- starred chefs known for their innovations but also in the kitchens of ordinary people in everyday life. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss ways to measure creativity in cooking. Three main questions will be addressed. First, the “What?” que...

This chapter addresses the question of food and beverage studies through the theoretical framework of social representations and more particularly that of the structural approach of representations. We will present some elements relating to the study of food and beverages according to this approach and then present the conceptual framework of socia...

To measure conspiracism, researchers have created various scales. Generally, these scales aim to measure the adherence to more or less specific conspiracy beliefs or the presence of a conspiracy mentality among the respondents. The information from the studies carried out in terms of understanding of the conspiracy phenomenon (fundamental research)...

Where are the observations in psychology ? Recurrent criticisms have been addressed to psychology for its excessive focus on hypothesis testing, and its disregard for the descriptive, exploratory and observational approaches commonly found in the other natural sciences (e.g., zoology, ethology, behavioral ecology, behavioral biology, primatology)....

Deviance Punishment is an important issue for social-psychological research. Group members tend to punish deviance through rejection, ostracism and-more commonly-negative judgments. Subjective Group Dynamics proposes to account for social judgement patterns of deviant and conformist individuals. Relying on a group identity management perspective, o...

Ce livre établit un panorama des recherches les plus actuelles sur la créativité pour mieux la comprendre et la favoriser. Plus de cinquante auteurs ont participé à sa rédaction. La première partie fait état des théories portant sur différentes facettes de la créativité, ses processus, les facteurs favorisant ou inhibant la créativité. La seconde...

Vers une (nouvelle) psychologie sociale de la créativité

PhD candidates are at particularly high risk of developing imposter thoughts. Imposter syndrome can be supposed to contribute to the high prevalence of mental health problems among PhD candidates, such as stress, burnout, depression, or intense negative emotions. In addition, emotion regulation is also considered an important factor in determining...

Background Despite the potential detrimental consequences for individuals’ health and discrimination from covid-19 symptoms, the outcomes have received little attention. This study examines the relationships between having personally experienced discrimination based on the symptoms of covid-19 (during the first wave of the pandemic), mental health,...

Conservative ideology is closely linked with pathogen prevalence, and adherence to conservative values increases under pathogen threat. To this day, few studies have demonstrated this effect using ecological voter data. For the first time, we analyze results from an election (the 2020 French local election) which was held during the growing coronav...

One of the more important questions about creativity is what makes a creative production a revolution ? The present contribution follows the analysis of the development of scientific knowledge proposed by Thomas Kuhn in ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ to propose a typology that may contribute to an answer. This typology, based on a retros...

Interpersonal conflicts constitute an essential component of everyday life. The present research aimed to create a measure of the general individual orientation towards conflict, of the individual tendency to seek conflict. We conducted three correlational studies (Ntotal = 652) in order to validate the CONS (CONflict Seeking), to study the associa...

Emergency situations are generally described as combining both threat and time pressure. Creative solutions to deal with such situations are important. The present studies (Ntotal = 1190) investigated how people are able to produce creative solutions in an emergency. Our first study was correlational, and assessed individual creativity and reaction...

Due to the difficulties of understanding all the aspects of creativity, the study of this complex phenomenon has been placed at the crossroads of various disciplines. Among these, social psychology has been interested in this exploration. Incidentally, various approaches in creativity research highlighted the importance of social factors in the pro...

The scientific literature on conspiracy theories indicates that (1) conspiracy believers show a greater tendency to use violent means to obtain social change, that (2) they also tend to be dissatisfied with the democratic system in which they live (even denying its democratic character), and (3) this type of dissatisfaction predisposes to the use o...

Despite the proven effectiveness of COVID-19 preventive measures, these remain inoperative if individuals do not adopt them. We sought out to investigate the effectiveness of a novel type of intervention to foster compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures. Drawing upon the model of action phases and evidence linking social motives to compliance...

Innovation constitutes a key factor for the economy and the competitiveness of societies. Using the Hofstede model of national culture, previous studies investigated the influence of different cultural dimensions on national-level innovation. These studies provided for mixed evidence regarding the influence and weight of each cultural dimension in...

In scientific research on creativity, there has been considerable debate concerning the criteria by which a production can be judged more or less creative, that is, about the definition of creativity. The most frequent definition – the standard definition – incorporates the criteria of novelty and value. However, other definitions, based on a singl...

Purpose The assessment of population mental health relies on survey data from representative samples, which come with considerable costs. Drawing on research which established that absolutist words (e.g. never) are semantic markers for depression, we propose a new measure of population mental health based on the frequency of absolutist words in onl...

The assessment of population mental health relies on survey data from representative samples, which come with considerable costs. Drawing on research which established that absolutist words (e.g. never) are semantic markers for depression, we propose a new measure of population mental health based on the frequency of absolutist words in online sear...

Conspiracy theories are narratives, they tell mostly fictional stories. In that sense, conspiracy theories are creative productions similar to other productions involving narratives, such as poems, films, or stories. However, contrary to these productions regularly studied in the field of creativity, conspiracy theories remain unexplored in this fi...

The different definitions of creativity that have been proposed by researchers have developed out of what are called explicit theories of creativity, on the basis of logical and semantic arguments, independently of empirical data. The present paper focuses on two such definitions, the standard definition (M.A. Runco & G.J. Jaeger, 2012), which defi...

If the importance of social psychological factors in creativity has been widely emphasized, research across the social sciences mainly focused on identifying contextual factors that increase or decrease individuals’ creative behaviors. Few studies have investigated the relationships between creativity and individual characteristics related to inter...

In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a period of lockdown that impacted individuals’ lifestyles, in both professional and personal spheres. New problems and challenges arose, as well as opportunities. Numerous studies have examined the negative effects of lockdown measures, but few have attempted to shine light on the potential positive...

Deviance Punishment is an important issue for social-psychological research. Group members tend to punish deviance through rejection, ostracism and – more commonly - negative judgments. Subjective Group Dynamics proposes to account for social judgement patterns of deviant and conformist individuals. Relying on a group identity management perspectiv...

Many studies mention the social valorization of creative individuals. However, previous works show contrasting results concerning both this valorization and the links between creativity and the two dimensions of social judgment (individuals' warmth and competence). Consequently, we implemented two paradigms classically used when examining the norma...

In scientific research on creativity, there has been considerable debate concerning the criteria by which a production can be judged more or less creative, that is, about the definition of creativity. The most frequent definition – the standard definition – incorporates the criteria of novelty and value. However, other definitions, based on a singl...

Social distancing and mass quarantines were implemented worldwide in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research on the effects of social isolation has shown that such measures bear negative consequences for population health and well-being. Conversely, a growing body of evidence suggests that feeling positively identified with a grou...

In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a period of lockdown that impacted individual’s lifestyles, in both professional and personal spheres. New problems and challenges arose, as well as opportunities. Numerous studies have examined the negative effects of lockdown measures, but few have attempted to shine light on the potential positive...

Collective action is a key driver of social and political change within societies. So far, the main factor mobilizing individuals into collective action remains the extent to which they feel identified with a protesting group (i.e., social identification). Although the link between social identification and collective action is well-established, cu...

Common ingroup categorization reduces outgroup prejudice. This link is moderated by distinctiveness motives (i.e., individuals perceiving this identity as too inclusive). Yet, Optimal Distinctiveness Theory states that both distinctiveness and belonging motives shape intergroup attitudes. For the first time we tested the hypothesis that belonging a...

Conservative ideology is closely linked with pathogen prevalence, and adherence to conservative values increases under pathogen threat. To this day, few studies have demonstrated this effect using ecological data. For the first time, we analyse results from an election (the 2020 French local election) which was held during the growing COVID-19 spre...

Exposure to death-related threats, thoughts and cues (actual or anticipated death of conspecifics, including oneself) remain powerful stressors across primate species, including humans. Accordingly, a pervasive issue in psychology pertains to the kind of social–cognitive responses exposure to deadly threats generates. To this day, psychological mod...

The central core theory establishes that the organization of a social representation depends on a distinction between central and peripheral cognitions. Only the first ones are considered as particularly linked to the group identity. Previous works showed that, contrary to peripheral cognitions, central cognitions are subject to social valorization...

Sharedness constitutes a key notion in the framework of social representations. Especially, the structural approach to social representations distinguishes central and peripheral cognitions, the first ones being considered as more shared than the second ones. However, sharedness has been conceived without a real reflection about its definition and...

Alcohol is an ancestral beverage. Both divinized and demonized, it is nowadays at the heart of a great controversy at health and social levels. Its consumption is subject to great control, consumption thresholds are instituted (i.e. WHO), limits imposed. However, it must be admitted that the consumption of alcohol is regulated by culture, contexts...

Psychological research suggests that politically motivated violence (e.g., terrorism) partially stems from existential motives, and more specifically from individuals’ need to achieve significance in life (Significance Quest Theory [SQT]; Kruglanski et al., 2014). Interestingly, sociological research has established similar findings linking anomia—...

Resistance to Persuasion (RP) is an important construct allowing to understand attitude change (or its absence) after persuasive attempts. Theorized as an individual attribute, no research has yet investigated the potential presence of prescriptive norms of judgment surrounding the display of RP by individuals. In line with the prevalence of indivi...

An important amount of studies investigates food, individuals and groups' relation to food. Some of them convoke the theoretical framework of social representations. These ones refer to structured sets of ideas, opinions, knowledge and beliefs about food shared by a social group, about food, foodstuffs, or related issues. The present contribution h...

Some theories dealing with the social construction of reality refer to epistemic and affiliative needs. These latter are considered as two fundamental human motives underlying such construction processes. The Social Representations Theory refers instead to more specific functions. Yet, the literature provides numerous evidences of the fulfillment o...

Secularism in France is both a state principle and a cultural construct, that enforces a State neutrality towards religion. Recent studies have demonstrated the emergence of a lay conception called ‘New Secularism’ (NS) that is used to legitimize expression of prejudice towards North African minorities. However, none have been able to yet demonstra...

This contribution consists of a critical review of the literature about the articulation of two traditionally separated theoretical fields: social representations and commitment. Besides consulting various works and communications, a bibliographic search was carried out (between February and December, 2016) on various databases using the keywords “...

Secularism in France is both a state principle and a cultural construct, that enforces a State neutrality towards religion. Recent studies have demonstrated the emergence of a lay conception called ‘New Secularism’ (NS) that is used to legitimize expression of prejudice towards North African minorities. However, none have been able to yet demonstra...

Research in the field of Resistance to Persuasion (RP) has demonstrated that inoculating individuals with counter arguments is effective for lowering their levels of adherence to conspiracist beliefs (CB). Yet, this strategy is limited because it requires specific arguments tailored against targeted conspiracist narratives. Therefore, we investigat...

Secularism in France is both a state principle and a cultural construct, that enforces a State neutrality towards religion. Recent studies have demonstrated the emergence of a lay conception called ‘New Secularism’ (NS) that is used to legitimize expression of prejudice towards North African minorities. However, none have been able to yet demonstra...

Research in the field of Resistance to Persuasion (RP; Knowles & Linn, 2004) has demonstrated that inoculating individuals with counter arguments is effective for lowering their levels of adherence to conspiracist beliefs (CB). Yet, this strategy is limited because it requires specific arguments tailored against targeted conspiracist narratives. Th...

Research in the field of Resistance to Persuasion (RP; Knowles & Linn, 2004) has demonstrated that inoculating individuals with counter arguments is effective for lowering their levels of adherence to conspiracist beliefs (CB). Yet, this strategy is limited because it requires specific arguments tailored against targeted conspiracist narratives. Th...

Conspiracy Beliefs provide meaning and control in the face of various kinds of threats. For the first time, we investigate whether basic meaning threats could increase adherence to Conspiracy Beliefs. Results diverged across 5 studies among different populations using different primes. A mini meta-analysis revealed that threat increased adherence t...

Contexte Le programme d’ETP DEFHYEDU, développé dans le CRMR d’origine hypophysaire DEFHY, a reçu l’agrément de l’ARS fin 2012 (140 patients, mai 2013–mai 2016). Lors du diagnostic éducatif, le patient se fixe des objectifs et va choisir des ateliers parmi les 8 proposés couvrant les problématiques rencontrées dans les pathologies hypophysaires : c...

Représentations sociales et engagement : Revue de la littérature et perspectives de recherche

Laïcité is the political principle ensuring secularity of the French State through its neutral stance towards religion. This allows for freedom of religion in France. However, historians (Baubérot 2010, 2014) have noticed a shift in the understanding and use of Laïcité among both politicians and the public. They called this new version of Laïcité '...

Les fumeurs exposés aux messages menaçants fortement livides manifestent des réactions défensives entravant la persuasion. C’est le cas de l’évitement défensif de la menace : un mécanisme automatique de contrôle de l’émotion déclenché par l’exposition à un stimulus émotionnel (Mendolia, 1999) qui peut se traduire par des biais attentionnels (Klein...