John Hunter

University of Otago · Department of Psychology

This study investigates how negative in-group favoritism (the allocation of white noise) is associated with belonging in the minimal group paradigm. Participants were assigned to minimal groups and then randomly allocated to one of three Cyberball conditions (inclusion, ostracism, or no feedback). Subjective levels of belonging were then measured....

Heightened ingroup favoritism under threat conditions is a well-established phenomenon in social psychology. Past research has focused on self-esteem as a motive for ingroup favoritism, but inconsistent evidence has led some researchers to consider alternate motives. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of COVID-19-related threats to pe...

Social groups and the environments they create play a prominent role in the desistance versus persistence of young peoples' criminal offending. Social Identity Mapping (SIM) provides a quantitative method for understanding the social network of young offenders. This exploratory study was guided by two broad research questions: (1) using the SIM tas...

Laypeople reason that different races share 68% of their genes. In fact, the Human Genome Project indicates that humans, regardless of race, share 99.9% of our genetic material and that only 1/200th of 1% has been used to group people into the five classically conceived races. We reasoned that information about shared genetics might compel particip...

Earlier studies that have investigated the motivational basis of intergroup discrimination have focused on the contribution of self-esteem. We argue that this emphasis has led to neglect of alternative motives. In the present chapter, we seek to redress this state of affairs by drawing attention to the potential contribution of belonging. Two studi...

This study examines the language utilized by Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland to explain ingroup and outgroup violence. Using discourse analysis, four major types of narrative were discerned. Each functioned to either unequivocally justify ingroup violence or unequivocally condemn outgroup violence. The results reveal that accounts are...

This study sought to assess the association between a negative form of intergroup discrimination (the allocation of white noise) and increased belonging in the minimal group paradigm (MGP). Using the Klee and Kandinsky variant of the minimal group procedure, participants were assigned to a discrimination condition, one of five nondiscrimination con...

Much of the work that has shown that intergroup discrimination may lead to elevated collective self-esteem (CSE) contains features that, in essential respects, preclude an accurate investigation of predictions derived from social identity theory (SIT). Typically, these studies have tended to incorporate measures that assess global, trait, and priva...

We challenge the assumption that employee flourishing is automatically beneficial to both the organization and wider society. To this end, firstly, we posit that flourishing needs to be bound by some sort of moral guide in order to mitigate unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Study 1 (N = 170) supports our proposed moderation hypothesis in...

This chapter aims to understand how readers perceive sensational headlines about outgroup members/issues. It reports the results of a randomized controlled experiment to compare the effects of viewing (1) a positive headline, (2) a negative headline, (3) no headline, or (4) both positive and negative (conflicting) news headlines about socio-politic...

This research sought to examine the impact of existential anxiety and threatened control on ingroup favoritism and to further discern whether these effects could be generalized to a non-Western culture. In study one, participants were assigned to a mortality salience (MS), a control threat (CT), or baseline condition, in which self-esteem and perce...

The media perpetuates many harmful stereotypes about people with mental illness. In two studies, we demonstrate the impact of negative media portrayals of mental illness on prejudice and attempt to mitigate these negative effects. Specifically, in Study 1, participants watched the movie Joker, a recent film which associates mental illness with viol...

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Aotearoa New Zealand, killing over 1,700 people each year. Despite the burden of lung cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand, the popular press has referred to it as the cancer type that no one talks about. Here, we investigate one factor that may contribute to this state of affairs: lung can...

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, adopted a “go hard, go early” approach to eliminate COVID-19. Although Ardern and her Labour party are considered left-leaning, the policies implemented during the pandemic (e.g., police roadblocks) have the hallmarks of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). RWA is characterized by three attitudinal cluste...

We conducted a randomized controlled experiment to investigate the role of descriptive captions (positive and negative valence) and ideological beliefs (Right Wing Authoritarianism-RWA and Social Dominance Orientation-SDO) on viewers' emotional response towards 'people of color' in ambiguous photographs. We manipulated the caption conditions to sug...

During the COVID-19 pandemic there have been marked changes in individuals' belief systems (e.g., support for lockdowns) as a result of the threat of COVID-19. In the current study, we investigated whether these belief systems change as a function of changes in the threat of COVID-19. Specifically, we conducted a longitudinal study, with authoritar...

We conducted a randomized controlled experiment to investigate the role of descriptive captions (positively and negatively worded) and ideological beliefs (Right Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation) on viewers’ evaluations of two popular British Royal family members namely Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. Participants included 3...

In a recent tweet, Auckland City Councillor Efeso Collins asked Television New Zealand (TVNZ) to drop Police Ten 7, arguing that it “…feeds on racial stereotypes”. Both the Chief Executive of the company behind Police Ten 7, and a former host, defended the show by suggesting that it provides an accurate portrayal of crime in Aotearoa New Zealand. I...

This study with 88 children from Dunedin (MAge = 5.18, SD = 1.32) aimed to measure racial prejudice, particularly that against Asians and Arab Muslims. Each participant was requested to complete two tasks to measure their explicit bias and one task to measure their implicit bias. Together, the results indicated that young children display a greater...

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, adopted a “go hard, go early” approach to eliminate COVID-19. Although she and her Labour party are considered left-leaning, the policies implemented during the pandemic (e.g., police road blocks) have the hallmarks of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). RWA is characterised by three attitudinal clusters...

Research concerned with understanding the motivational basis of in-group favoritism has centered on the role of self-esteem. Decades of empirical research has, however, failed to find a consistent link between these two variables. As a result, a number of theorists have begun to postulate the potential contribution of other motivational factors. Th...

Journal editorials, career features, and the popular press commonly talk of a graduate student mental health crisis. To date, studies on graduate student mental health have employed cross-sectional designs, limiting any causal conclusions regarding the relationship between entry into graduate study and mental health. Here, we draw on data from a lo...

This study used a story-telling task to examine 112 Chinese children's (M = 8.37 years, range: 5 to 13.25 years) prosocial behavior toward Chinese and White members harmed intentionally by another story character or accidentally. Children rewarded story characters with stickers following each story. Overall, there was an in-group bias such that chi...

Numerous studies suggest that flourishing leads to advantageous personal outcomes. We, however, argue that flourishing does not provide any moral guidance necessary to trigger socio-moral outcomes. The critical qualifier, we argue, is in the degree to which morality is central to an individual’s identity. Accordingly, across four studies, we tested...

We challenge the assumption that employee flourishing is automatically beneficial to both the organization and wider society. To this end, we firstly posit that flourishing needs to be bound by some sort of moral guide in order to mitigate unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Study 1 (N = 170) supports our proposed moderation hypothesis in...

The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the sense that others are having a rewarding experience which one is absent from. Given that it is associated with the drive to remain socially connected, research has predominantly focused on the link between FoMO and social networking use. While a 10-item measure of FoMO is widely used (FoMOs), a shorter scale ma...

This survey study assesses the association of viewing the film Joker with level of prejudice toward individuals with mental illness.

There is increasing scientific and public support for the notion that some foods may be addictive, and that poor weight control and obesity may, for some people, stem from having a food addiction. However, it remains unclear how a food addiction model (FAM) explanation for obesity and weight control will affect weight stigma. In two experiments (N...

Right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) predict prejudice and discrimination in adults. To create analogous scales for children, we carried out four studies. First, we gave 112 adults from New Zealand (Study 1) and 146 adults from Turkey (Study 2) novel child‐appropriate measures of RWA and SDO, along with the stand...

We examined Turkish participants’ mindreading accuracy toward ingroup versus outgroup targets. Three hundred and fifty-four Turkish participants were randomly assigned to one of three target groups: Turkish, Syrian, or Norwegian. The mindreading accuracy for these targets was measured along with the perceived cultural similarity of the target to th...

This study examines the relationship between perceived control and intergroup discrimination. Two hypotheses are tested. The first states that the display of intergroup discrimination will lead to an increased sense of perceived control. The second states that low levels of perceived control (manipulated through a control-threatening exclusion para...

Background: This exploratory study sought to establish the relationship between endometriosis-related pelvic pain, endometriosis symptom-frequency, and women's subjective wellbeing (SWB). Methods: A purposive sample (N = 2061) of women with endometriosis aged between 18 and 62 years (M = 30.49 ± 7.45) completed an online questionnaire containing...

Objective: The current study adopted a lay theories approach to examine how everyday ideas of the key characteristics of resilience are consistent with an ecological systems theory of resilience across several countries. Method: We compared the factor structure of lay theories of resilience across five countries (n=3793; 1499 males, 2285 females, 9...

The book “Global Perspectives on University Students” was an initiative of the publishing program of Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Nova Science Publishers were looking for an international perspective on University Students and, accordingly, invited researchers from around the world to contribute their perspectives and empirical research. Fortunat...

Over half of New Zealand high-school students make the transition to tertiary education. The transition is typically challenging, and students may experience an array of psychological challenges that threaten their mental health. In the present chapter, using the limited data at hand, we provide an overview of the current mental health status of Ne...

A central principle of the Māori worldview is an abiding concern for family-like relationships (whanaungatanga). As Macfarlane and colleagues (2008) note whanaungatanga refers to both "…a sense of belonging to and a sense of relating to others, within a context of collective identity and responsibility" (p. 107). Focusing on relationships and colle...

A number of studies have reported a positive relationship between levels of national identification and well-being. Although this link is clear, the relationship is likely influenced by a number of other variables. In the current study, we examine two such variables: age and the ease with which people feel they can express their identity in the nat...

This study used a story-telling task to examine 112 Chinese children’s (M = 8.37 years, range: 5 to 13.25 years) empathy towards same-race and cross-race members harmed intentionally as opposed to accidentally. A new measure of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) for children was used to examine correlations with children’s empathetic attitudes. Incr...

It has recently been demonstrated by Crampton et al. that there has been a marked increase in the sociodemographic diversity of the University of Otago’s health professional programmes between 2010 and 2016.1 This change is evidenced by the fact that a historic 76 health professional Māori graduates crossed the Dunedin Town Hall stage in December 2...

The present study explores parent and child prosocial and empathic responding in terms of parent characteristics, values and disciplinary strategies, as well as new measures of child social values. Children (age 5-10, n = 52) completed a prosocial empathic responding measure involving a sticker task and four short stories in which characters were h...

The present study explores the potential of well-being and resilience benefits for people who are civically engaged in the context of the Christchurch terror attacks. Young people (n = 530, mean age = 20.9) completed one civic engagement, well-being, and resilience questionnaire. Results showed that people who were flourishing had significantly hig...

In the present investigation, we sought to examine the association between threats to belonging and intergroup discrimination in private and public contexts. To this end, participants (men) received either inclusion or ostracism feedback via a Cyberball game, and then were given the opportunity to differentially evaluate ingroup (i.e., men) and out...

When a reader views a strongly-worded headline about a familiar topic, does it change their opinion about it or do they interpret the news in line with their own pre-existing beliefs? This paper aims to answer the question by gauging college student’s emotional response to sensitive global issues like immigration, justifying killing in the name of...

Within Aotearoa New Zealand there is growing interest in positive youth development (PYD). A PYD approach provides balance to narratives surrounding outcomes for youth and broadens our views of what we consider beneficial developmental outcomes. In the current study we used sail training as a method to promote PYD in Māori and New Zealand European...

Using a between‐groups design and random assignment, this study examined 214 Turkish children's (M = 11.66 years) mindreading and general reasoning about in‐group members (Turks), similar out‐group members (Syrians within Turkey) and dissimilar out‐group members (Northern Europeans). Children heard four mindreading and four general reasoning storie...

The Social Identity Approach to Health holds that groups provide us with a sense of meaning and belonging, and that these identity processes have a significant positive impact on our health and wellbeing. Typically, research drawing from the social identity approach with adolescents has focused on the benefits of existing group memberships. Here, u...

Dataset for Study 2. (SAV)

Dataset for Study 1. (SAV)

The Social Identity Approach to Health holds that groups provide us with a sense of meaning and belonging, and that these identity processes have a significant positive impact on our health and wellbeing. Typically, research drawing from the social identity approach with adolescents has focused on the benefits of existing group memberships. Here, u...

The current psychology literature defines flourishing as leading an authentic life that directs one towards the highest levels of both feeling good and functioning well. Numerous studies show that flourishing relates to a wide array of advantageous personal outcomes. However, the same literature says very little about the social outcomes of flouris...

Within Aotearoa New Zealand there is growing interest in positive youth development (PYD) approaches. A PYD approach provides balance to narratives surrounding outcomes for youth and broadens our views of what we consider positive developmental outcomes. In current study we used sail training as a method to promote PYD in Māori and New Zealand Euro...

Three studies assessed the association between in-group favoritism and subjective belonging. Study 1 revealed that after New Zealanders allocated more positive resources to in-group than out-group members (i.e., Asians), they reported higher levels of belonging. Study 2 showed that when New Zealanders evaluated in-group members more positively than...

A number of recent studies have revealed that taking part in a sail-training-based Adventure Education Programme elevates youths' self-esteem. Across two studies, we sought to examine the extent to which youths' sense of belonging contributed to this increase in self-esteem. Study 1 revealed that participants who completed the voyage showed an incr...

Introduction: Adolescence is a time of biological, emotional, and social change that can present a number of challenges for teens to overcome. Although much of the adolescent literature focuses on how peers may cause or exacerbate the many challenges teens face, there is a growing appreciation that peers can also have a profoundly positive influenc...

Objective: Mental health problems are a leading cause of health-related disability during adolescence. The objectives of the current study were to investigate whether participating in an adventure education program (AEP) increased adolescents’ resilience and elucidate how social connectedness contributes to any increase. Method: Adolescents who par...

This study examined the impact of mortality salience and control threat on in-group favouritism. Three hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis one is that mortality salience and control threat would lead to higher evaluations of the in-group than the out-group. Hypothesis two is that, following mortality salience, self-esteem (but not locus of control)...

Article published in Professional Skipper Magazine

There are a wide variety of interventions that seek to enhance self-esteem. Reviews of the empirical evidence suggest that many of these interventions fail to achieve the intended outcome. The following set of studies examined elevated self-esteem as a function of participation in a 10-day developmental voyage on the Spirit of New Zealand. Data fro...

This study sought to examine the role of belonging in the increases in resilience observed following an adventure education programme (AEP). First, we demonstrate that group belonging makes a significant contribution to the improvement in resilience participants’ experienced over the course of the AEP. Second, we demonstrate that this increase in r...

The present study sought to examine the extent to which distinct aspects of social identity (group belonging and group identification) contributed to increased resilience following an Adventure Education Program (AEP). First, we demonstrate that group belonging makes a significant contribution to the improvement in resilience participants experienc...

Prior studies suggest that moral centrality moderates the relation between flourishing and ethicality. Also, both flourishing and moral centrality have been linked to cultural orientations. Hence, culture may add another indicator to flourishing and moral centrality interaction and, thus, help explicate the reciprocal impact of flourishing on socie...

Objective: To examine associations between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), alcohol use, and negative alcohol-related consequences among college students. Participants: Participants were two samples of undergraduate students ages 18 – 25 (Study 1 n = 182; Study 2 n = 250). Methods: In both studies, participants completed the Fear of Missing Out Scale (F...

This study examined the correlates of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) in older adults. Participants were given tasks measuring emotion recognition, executive functions and fluid IQ and questionnaires measuring RWA, perceived threat and social dominance orientation. Study 1 established higher age-related RWA across the age span in more than 2,600...

Much of the research on flourishing has adopted the PERMA model. A weakness of this model is that it neglects the impact of morality. In an attempt to redress this issue, the concept of ‘moral-flourishing’ is defined as flourishing of moral agents, noting that ‘being a moral agent’ refers to having morality as the most central aspect of one’s ident...

Based on the Aristotelian concept of Eudaimonia, Seligman has proposed the PERMA model of human flourishing. According to this model people will flourish by nurturing Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA). The PERMA model may, however, be criticized on the basis of being value-neutral. The theoretical stu...

New Zealand adolescents have high rates of social and psychological morbidity. Alarmingly, the risk factors and adversity that contribute to this morbidity continue to grow. Neither risk factors nor adversity, however, are deterministic. Faced with similar challenges some children thrive while others regress. The ability to thrive when faced with a...

Several important theoretical perspectives in intergroup relations predict that there should be a positive association between various form of intergroup discrimination and collective identity. The empirical evidence for this assumption is however inconsistent and contradictory. Some studies show positive associations, some show negative associatio...

Although fairness rules provide a basis for conflict resolution, social and psychological processes can lead people to use these rules flexibly to allow their own groups to compare favorably relative to other groups. In two studies, we examined the expression of such ethnocentric fairness in the context of the Olympic Games. Participants rated the...

Ample evidence suggests that there are more risks for children and youth today than in the past, as the prevalence of depression, suicide, and child poverty continues to rise. For this reason, understanding and promoting resilience despite adversity is paramount. The present studies aim to explore the potential of resilience to be increased through...

Recent research suggests that citizenship and engagement are declining, especially in young populations. As there is evidence that civic engagement is important not only for healthy democracies but also for individual wellbeing, this decline warrants investigation. The present study has three goals: 1) to explore the link between well-being and ci...

Evidence suggests that there are more risks for children and youth today than in the past. For this reason, understanding and promoting resilience despite adversity is paramount. The present studies explore the potential of resilience to be increased through a 10-day developmental voyage onboard the tall ship ‘The Spirit of New Zealand’. Voyage cha...

This study examined the association between perceived control and one form of intergroup discrimination – group favouring evaluations. Two hypotheses were tested. The first predicted that following the display of in-group favouring evaluations participants would experience elevated levels of control. The second predicted that lower levels of contro...

The corpus of work produced by Muzafer Sherif, including the Boys' Camp Studies, reminds us that groups have both a material reality and psychological validity. This work directs us to examine group processes and intergroup relations at the appropriate group and intergroup level. And it admonishes us to achieve these ends through sound conceptual c...

Two studies examined the association between private collective self-esteem (PCSE) and positive and negative forms of intergroup discrimination. In the first study, intergroup discrimination was assessed by means of the allocation or removal positive resources (i.e., points) from ingroup and outgroup members. PCSE was assessed after the completion...

The following article examined elevated self‐esteem as a function of a 10‐day developmental voyage. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 demonstrated that participants who completed the voyage experienced elevated self‐esteem. Study 2 replicated and extended these results insofar as it revealed that (a) elevated self‐esteem was maintained 12 months...