Georgios AbakoumkinUniversity of Thessaly | UTH · Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Προσχολικής Eκπαίδευσης
Georgios Abakoumkin
PhD, Panteion University
About
60
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (60)
The present paper examines longitudinally how subjective perceptions about COVID-19, one’s community, and the government predict adherence to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Using an international survey ( N = 3040), we test how infection risk perception, trust in the governmental response and communications about COVID-19...
Before vaccines for COVID-19 became available, a set of infection prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine learning analyses can identify cor...
Anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement has been associated with adverse health behaviors, such as unhealthy eating, smoking, and drinking. However, most studies have been limited by regional sampling, which precludes the examination of behavioral consequences associated with the pandemic at a global level. Further, few s...
Understanding the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake is important to inform policy decisions and plan vaccination campaigns. The aims of this research were to: (1) explore the individual- and country-level determinants of intentions to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and (2) examine worldwide variation in vaccination intentions. This cross-s...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256740.].
Understanding how individual beliefs and societal values influence support for measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission is vital to developing and implementing effective prevention policies. Using both Just World Theory and Cultural Dimensions Theory, the present study considered how individual-level justice beliefs and country-level social valu...
In this article we illustrate how trainers and trainees negotiate epistemic and deontic authority within systemic family therapy training. Adult education principles and postmodern imperatives have challenged trainers’ and trainees’ asymmetries regarding knowledge (epistemics) and power (deontics), normatively implicated by the institutional traini...
Online excessive gaming has been associated with negative player identity constructions depicting an abnormal life-style. Up-to-date, there is limited insight into player identity management talk about excessive online gaming. To address this gap, drawing from discursive and rhetorical psychology, we investigated naturally occurring talk of 134 pla...
The current research examined the role of values in guiding people’s responses to COVID-19. Results from an international study involving 115 countries (N = 61,490) suggest that health and economic threats of COVID-19 evoke different values, with implications for controlling and coping with the pandemic. Specifically, health threats predicted prior...
Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in increasing negative attitudes towards immigrants. We used participant-level data from...
During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors dete...
During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors dete...
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentiment of societal discontent, defined as generalized concern about the precarious state of socie...
The current research examined the role of values in guiding people’s responses to COVID-19. Results from an international study involving 115 countries (N = 61,490) suggest that health and economic threats of COVID-19 evoke different values, with implications for controlling and coping with the pandemic. Specifically, health threats evoked prioriti...
We examine how social contacts and feelings of solidarity shape experiences of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. From the PsyCorona database, we obtained longitudinal data from 23 countries, collected between March and May 2020. The results demonstrated that although online contacts help to reduce feelings of loneliness, people...
This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by
wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the
pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N = 25,435). The main
predictors were (1) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (...
Cross-societal differences in cooperation and trust among strangers in the provision of public goods may be key to understanding how societies are managing the COVID-19 pandemic. We report a survey conducted across 41 societies between March and May 2020 (N = 34,526), and test pre-registered hypotheses about how cross-societal differences in cooper...
Background
The effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of trust in government regarding COVID-19 control with the adoption of recommended health behaviou...
The COVID-19 pandemic presents threats, such as severe disease and economic hardship, to people of different ages. These threats can also be experienced asymmetrically across age groups, which could lead to generational differences in behavioral responses to reduce the spread of the disease. We report a survey conducted across 56 societies (N = 58,...
Background
Although there are increasing concerns on mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, no large-scale population-based studies have examined the associations of risk perception of COVID-19 with emotion and subsequent mental health.
Methods
: This study analysed cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the PsyCorona Survey that...
Although it is known that collective narcissism is associated with problematic intergroup relations, its predictors are less well understood. Two studies, conducted in four European Union countries (Germany, Greece, Portugal, the United Kingdom [UK]), tested the hypotheses that integrated (i.e., realistic and symbolic) threat (Study 1, N = 936) as...
According to health behavior theories, perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow these recommendations. Because the U.S. President Trump and U.S. conservative politicians downplayed the risk and seriousness of contracting COVID-19 and the effectiv...
The Coronavirus is highly infectious and potentially deadly. In the absence of a cure or a vaccine, the infection prevention behaviors recommended by the World Health Organization constitute the only measure that is presently available to combat the pandemic. The unprecedented impact of this pandemic calls for swift identification of factors most i...
In this work, we study how social contacts and feelings of solidarity shape experiences of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. We draw on cross-national data, collected across four time points between mid-March until early May 2020. We situate our work within the public debate on these issues and discuss to what extent the public...
According to health behavior theories, perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow these recommendations. Because the U.S. President Trump and U.S. conservative politicians downplayed the risk and seriousness of contracting COVID-19 and the effectiv...
The PsyCorona collaboration is a research project to examine processes involved in the COVID-19 pandemic, such as behavior that curbs virus transmission, which may
implicate social norms, cooperation, and self-regulation. The study also examines psychosocial consequences of physical distancing strategies and societal lockdown, such
as frustration o...
In two studies, we examined the association between nostalgia proneness (i.e., trait-level nostalgia) and importance of the collective self. In Study 1, we tested and supported the hypothesis that nostalgia proneness is positively correlated with relational collectivism, which entails an emphasis on one’s connections with close others and small soc...
Mapping the Moods of COVID-19: Global Study Uses Data Visualization to Track Psychological Responses, Identify Targets for Intervention
This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N=25,435). The main predictors were (i) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (ii...
Previous studies suggested that public trust in government is vital for implementations of social policies that rely on public's behavioural responses. This study examined associations of trust in government regarding COVID-19 control with recommended health behaviours and prosocial behaviours. Data from an international survey with representative...
Prior research, relying mostly on samples from the UK and the US, has indicated that nostalgia serves as a source of self-continuity (a sense that one’s past is interwoven with one’s present), and it does so by increasing social connectedness (a sense of belongingness and acceptance). The present research aimed to conceptually replicate and extend...
Background
Child maltreatment (CM) is a serious societal problem that needs to be reported in order to be dealt with. Teachers, who are in a key position to identify and report CM, often do not report it and this instigated much research on teachers’ intention to report CM. However, most of this research examined potentially related variables witho...
In the present chapter I link popular tradition with nostalgia. This link is established by proposing as a point of convergence the feeling of self-continuity, that is, the feeling that what one was in the past is connected with what one is in the present. The feeling of self-continuity is something positive for individuals, it is something that in...
The mere exposure effect (MEE) has been demonstrated mainly in the laboratory. One real-world area where MEEs have been reported concerns the Eurovision Song Contest. However, the two relevant previous studies had limitations. This research is critically reviewed and two new studies are reported that address these limitations. Firstly, additional d...
Previous research on voting patterns in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has examined the role of various factors in voting, like cultural proximity or reciprocity between countries. Fewer studies have examined the role of less obvious factors in this context. One such line of research has identified familiarity (as a result of mere exposure) effe...
This research examines specific facets of parent satisfaction with childcare centres, namely satisfaction with parent–centre communication and the educational services they provide, as well as respective parent beliefs. These were investigated in relation to centre type (private vs public) and parents’ education. Parents of different educational le...
We proposed that nostalgia, by virtue of its sociality, can be an indirect strategy to counteract relational deficiencies stemming from group-based exclusion. We instructed Greek participants to recall an event in which they experienced exclusion on the basis of their nationality versus a control event. We anticipated that participants would react...
Nostalgia is a frequently-experienced complex emotion, understood by laypersons in the United Kingdom and United States of America to (1) refer prototypically to fond, self-relevant, social memories and (2) be more pleasant (e.g., happy, warm) than unpleasant (e.g., sad, regretful). This research examined whether people across cultures conceive of...
Despite the apparent centrality of guilt in complicating reactions following bereavement, scientific investigation has been limited. Establishing the impact of specific components associated with guilt could enhance understanding. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between two guilt-related manifestations, namely self-blame and...
In the Philippines, as in several other low and middle-income countries in the world, it is usual for parents to leave the country to work abroad in order to improve the situation of their children who remain behind. However, stressful life events such as the separation from a parent are known to have a severe impact on physical and mental health o...
There is debate whether continuing bonds with a deceased person help or hinder adaptation to bereavement. This longitudinal study examined causal relationships between continuing bonds and symptoms over time. Following attachment theory predictions, suddenness of separation was examined as a moderator. Data were obtained from 60 bereaved spouses at...
The present research examined the relation between choice preferences in elections and 2 peripheral cues: presentation order and familiarity. Relevant previous evidence concerns mainly voters' choices in political elections, where primacy effects were found (i.e., candidates listed earlier had an advantage over candidates listed subsequently). Also...
This study concerns a protected area in northern Greece and examines how local people's occupation influences their perception of environmental impacts and their views and information about the area. The target groups were local residents that (a) were employed in the primary sector, (b) were employed in other economic sectors, and (c) were student...
Studies assessing the impact of relationship quality and social support on marital bereavement have typically focussed on depressive symptoms as the major (and often only) bereavement outcome. Although sadness and depression are important symptoms of grieving, they are neither the only nor necessarily the most important ones. We argue that in addit...
Studies assessing the impact of relationship quality (RQ) on marital bereavement have resulted in discrepant findings. These discrepancies could be due to two shortcomings of previous research, namely that RQ is typically assessed only after bereavement and that bipolar measures of RQ are used. We tested these assumptions with data from the Changin...
Learning environment is a factor of great significance in preschool education, since it
This report examined suicidal behavior during bereavement.
Suicidal ideation was examined in a group of 60 recently bereaved widows and widowers compared to 60 individually matched married comparison subjects.
Suicidal ideation was higher among widowed people than married people and was most excessive for widows. The effect disappeared when there w...
A review of studies on the role of social support as a moderator of bereavement outcome indicates that there is limited evidence for the widely held assumption that social support buffers the bereaved against, the impact of the loss experience and/or facilitates recovery. A test of the buffering/recovery hypothesis is reported, which is based on da...
A longitudinal study of a matched sample of 60 recently widowed and 60 married men and women tested predictions from stress and attachment theory regarding the role of social support in adjustment to bereavement. Stress theory predicts a buffering effect, attributing the impact of bereavement on well-being to stressful deficits caused by the loss a...
This essay aims at a secondary analysis of some of the Greek
data collected for the Youth and History project. It is an
exploratory investigation that adopts an approach based on Social
Identity Theory (SIT) in order to identify correlates of the forms of
national identification and ethnocentric bias expressed by Greek
adolescents. Variables reflec...
A study of a sample of bereaved and married individuals tested the prediction from stress theory that sex differences in bereavement outcome are due to differences in social support extended to the bereaved. Previous research had established that compared to same-sex married controls, widowers suffer greater health deterioration following the death...
A longitudinal study of a matched sample of 60 recently widowed and 60 married men and women tested predictions from stress and attachment theory regarding the role of social support in adjustment to bereavement. Stress theory predicts a buffering effect, attributing the impact of bereavement on well-being to stressful deficits caused by the loss a...
The illusion of group effectivity refers to the belief, persistent despite contradictory empirical evidence, that groups can stimulate creativity. This article uses unpublished data from the authors' research on brainstorming to illustrate the illusion of group effectivity and then presents a theoretical interpretation of this illusion based on two...
The illusion of group effectivity refers to the persistent belief that groups can stimulate creativity, in spite of consistent evidence that people are more productive when generating ideas individually rather than in groups. The first part of the article uses unpublished data from our research on brainstorming to illustrate the illusion of group e...
Projects
Projects (5)
The PsyCorona study is a multinational collaboration that aims to identify psychological and cultural factors that may be relevant to the virus spread and its imminent social and material consequences. The first survey includes brief measures to assess topic-relevant beliefs, fears and frustrations, subjective states, control and efficacy, values and needs, reasoning, and behavioral self-reports. The survey at https://psycorona.org has a built-in longitudinal component as well as a broader data science mission involving metadata. Pontus Leander and Jocelyn Belanger are PI.
