
Robin WollastStanford University | SU · Department of Psychology
Robin Wollast
Doctor of Psychology
About
73
Publications
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Introduction
Dr. Wollast is a postdoctoral researcher in psychology. His primary research focuses on body image, dehumanization, self-compassion and mindfulness through various lenses (culture, gender, mental health). Besides this main focus, he studies dropout and perseverance in doctoral studies. Moreover, his current project focuses on collective action, group polarization and ideological extremism. Ultimately, he is involved in many projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Robin.wollast@hotmail.com
Publications
Publications (73)
The coronavirus pandemic posed a major challenge to mental health. Existing evidence shows that COVID-19 is related to poor emotional well-being, particularly among women. However, most work on the subject uses single-country samples, limiting the ability to generalize the disparity or explain it as a function of societal variables. The present stu...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258320.].
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused considerable military casualties on both sides and widespread harm to Ukrainian civilians. While polls suggest that a slim majority of Russians endorse the invasion, the factors underpinning this support remain uncertain. We investigated factors associated with support for the war among Russians. In three...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift toward a more traditional division of labor–one where women took greater responsibility for household tasks and childcare than men. We tested whether this regressive shift was more acutely perceived and experienced by women in countries with greater gender equality. Cross-cultural longitudinal survey d...
We investigated the social, emotional, and cognitive predictors of adherence to four health behaviors (handwashing, mask wearing, social contact limitations, and physical distancing) during one critical phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data (N = 5803, mean age = 53; 57% women) in Belgium at five time points between April and July 2021,...
According to cognitive-dissonance theory, performing counterattitudinal behavior produces a state of dissonance that people are motivated to resolve, usually by changing their attitude to be in line with their behavior. One of the most popular experimental paradigms used to produce such attitude change is the induced-compliance paradigm. Despite it...
Research has suggested an increase in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, but much of this work has been cross-sectional, making causal inferences difficult. In the present research, we employed a longitudinal design to identify loneliness trajectories within a period of twelve months during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium (N = 2106). We were...
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced unprecedented changes in the lives of many people. Although research has documented associations between concerns related to COVID-19 and poor mental health indicators, fewer studies have focused on positive factors that could help people better cope with this stressful social context. To fill this gap, the presen...
Virus mitigation behavior has been and still is a powerful means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic irrespective of the availability of pharmaceutical means (e.g., vaccines). We drew on health behavior theories to predict health-protective (coping-specific) responses and hope (coping non-specific response) from health-related cognitions (vulnerability,...
Experiences with jihadist terrorism sparked debates about the boundaries of religious expression within secular societies. Standpoints majority members hold in such discussions may be inclusive or exclusive towards religious minorities and inform wider intergroup perceptions. The present research explores these relationships in the context of the 2...
Psychologicalresearchonthepredictorsofconspiracytheorizing—explainingimpor-tant social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolentgroups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examinedonly a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national con-texts. Such approaches make it difficult...
Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional “lockdown”) may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was emp...
The number of PhD candidates who experience psychological problems has risen significantly over the past few years. Poor mental health can have numerous negative consequences for PhD candidates and their supervisors, as it may adversely affect their quality of life, attrition, and academic productivity. Despite these well-documented challenges, few...
To limit the spread of COVID-19, public authorities have recommended sanitary behaviors such as handwashing, mask-wearing, physical distancing, and social distancing. We recruited a large sample of higher education students in Belgium (N = 3201-3441) to investigate the role of sociodemographic variables, mental health, previous COVID-19 infections,...
Decades of research have shown that social dominance orientation (SDO) is one of the most important predictors of anti-immigrant
attitudes. However, the mechanisms through which SDO can explain prejudice have been studied insufficiently. Using rich and diverse samples from France and from the province of Québec in Canada, the present research prov...
Dans ce chapitre, nous nous intéresserons au rôle des cognitions et attitudes dans les comportements intergroupes. Pour ce faire, nous commençons par introduire le concept de catégorisation sociale. Nous nous intéresserons à la façon dont ces deux aspects sont influencés par des variables d'ordre psycho-social (relations intergroupes, présence d'au...
Background: Using a longitudinal design, we investigate how the adherence to handwashing and its underlying socio-psychological predictors evolved over time during the COVID-19 pandemic and under distinct circumstances (e.g. when the crisis was more acute or chronic). Method: We collected data (N = 753) in Belgium and France at the onset of the COV...
Dans ce chapitre, nous nous intéresserons au rôle des cognitions et attitudes dans les comportements intergroupes. Pour ce faire, nous commençons par introduire le concept de catégorisation sociale. Nous nous intéresserons à la façon dont ces deux aspects sont influencés par des variables d’ordre psycho-social (relations intergroupes, présence d’au...
Abstract
Introduction This research examined the general attitudes toward lesbian women and gay men (LG people), same-sex marriage (SSM), and LG parenting (LGP) in a large sample of young heterosexual European adults. We expected that one’s country of origin, gender role traditionalism, contact, and religiosity would predict their responses.
Method...
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...
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is related to difficulties in emotion regulation, including a deficit in interoceptive awareness. The lack of interoceptive awareness is considered a vulnerability involved in the development and maintenance of anorexic symptoms. Surprisingly, no study has been conducted that focuses on these associations in an emotional conte...
This contribution reports on the results of an uncontrolled longitudinal study investigating the effects of a Multi-Family Therapy (MFT) as treatment for adolescent Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and the role played by perceived family functioning in these effects. 150 patients (144 females) and their families took part in a MFT and were assessed at the beg...
The objective of the current research was to investigate how a series of psychological factors may underlie two COVID-19 health behaviors, and how a contextual factor (country of residence) could shape their influence. Cross-sectional results from the first pandemic wave ( N Belgium = 4878, N France = 1071) showed that handwashing and social contac...
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...
The objective of the current research was to investigate how a series of psychological factors may underlie two COVID-19 health behaviors, and how a contextual factor (country of residence) could shape their influence. Cross-sectional results from the first pandemic wave (NBelgium = 4878, NFrance = 1071) showed that handwashing and social contact l...
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.].
There is today ample evidence that academic achievement depends on individual disparities in socioeconomic status (SES), working memory (WM) and academic self-concept (ASC). However, because these factors were investigated intensively but in separate fields of research in the past four to six decades, their relationships remain largely unknown. The...
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...
The selective exposure effect describes people's tendency to prefer information that confirms rather than challenges their existing beliefs. The present research replicates the selective exposure effect in the context of meat reduction as strategy to combat climate change. Additionally, we tested whether biased information selection can help explai...
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a global crisis and authorities have encouraged the population to promote preventive health behaviors to slow the spread of the virus. While the literature on psychological factors influencing health behaviors during the COVID-19 is flourishing, there is a lack of cross-national research focusing on multiple health be...
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 present research focuses on populism as a bottom-up phenomenon that emerges from shared perceptions of relative deprivation. We predict that by serving as a shared ideological basis, populist attitudes can mobilize leaderless anti-government protest across ideological boundaries. We test this prediction in the context of the French Yellow Vests...
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, (...
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,...
We propose a new method to test the reliability of Fredrickson et al.’s self-objectification
questionnaire (SOQ). This scale being based on a ranking, traditional reliability
estimates are inappropriate. Based on generalizability theory, we suggest to compute
the reliability of each subset of questions related to physical appearance vs. physical
co...
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...
L’objectification sexuelle, à savoir la tendance à considérer ou à traiter une personne
comme un objet sexuel, est présente au quotidien dans les relations interpersonnelles
comme dans les médias. En effet, ceux-ci (télévision, magazines,
internet, jeux vidéo…) véhiculent des images sexualisées, idéalisées et stéréotypées
des femmes et des hommes q...
Objectives
According to objectification theory, being treated as an object leads people, especially women, to perceive themselves as objects. This self-objectification increases body surveillance and feelings of body shame. While this relation is well-established in the literature, little is known about factors that can buffer against detrimental c...
Objectification theory suggests that sexualization has significant dehumanizing consequences for how perceivers see women. To date, research has mostly documented how sexualized bodies in the mass media are objectified and dehumanized. The purpose of the present work was to test the novel cosmetics dehumanization hypothesis (CDH), that is, that sub...
L’objectification sexuelle, à savoir la tendance à considérer ou à traiter une personne comme un objet sexuel, est présente au quotidien dans les relations interpersonnelles comme dans les médias. En effet, ceux-ci (télévision, magazines, internet, jeux vidéo…) véhiculent des images sexualisées, idéalisées et stéréotypées des femmes et des hommes q...
Mapping the Moods of COVID-19: Global Study Uses Data Visualization to Track Psychological Responses, Identify Targets for Intervention
According to objectification theory, being treated as an object leads women to engage in self-objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame, impairing women’s mental health. While most studies focusing on self-objectification rely heavily on Western populations that emphasize individualism, the current work investigates...
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...
Objectives: According to objectification theory, being treated as an object leads people, especially women, to perceive themselves as objects. This self-objectification increases body surveillance and feelings of body shame. While this relation is well-established in the literature, little is known about factors that can buffer against detrimental...
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...
According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self-objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame, impairing women’s mental health. While most studies focusing on self-objectification rely heavily on Western populations that emphasize individualism,...
Self-objectification has been claimed to induce numerous detrimental consequences for women at the individual level (e.g., sexual dysfunction, depression, eating disorders). Additionally, at the collective level, it has been proposed that self-objectified women might themselves contribute to the maintenance of the patriarchal status quo, for instan...
Reference for the published paper:
Bernard, P., Content, J., Servais, L., Wollast, R., & Gervais, S. (2020). An Initial Test of the Cosmetics Dehumanization Hypothesis: Heavy Makeup Diminishes Attributions of Humanness-Related Traits to Women. Sex Roles. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01115-y
Sex is power belief (SIPB) positively relates to self‐objectification. This research aims at expanding this finding. We propose that SIPB involves an instrumental view of one's own body (i.e., self‐objectification) that leads women to experience the negative consequences classically associated with self‐objectification. We further suggest that SIPB...
In this paper, we will discuss various issues related to the concept of resilience, which is conventionally defined as a dynamic process allowing for positive adaptation in a context of significant adversity. First, we will try to draw the reader's attention to the importance of the concept of resilience in terms of public health. Second, we will a...
Ever since Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) proposed objectification theory, research on self-objectification and – by extension –
other-objectification has experienced a considerable expansion. However, most of the studies on sexual objectification have been conducted solely in Western populations. This study investigates whether the effect of targe...
According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self‐objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame as well as impairs mental health. However, very little is known about what factors could act as buffers against the detrimental consequences of self‐obj...
According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self‐objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame as well as impairs mental health. However, very little is known about what factors could act as buffers against the detrimental consequences of self‐obj...
L’objectification sexuelle, à savoir la tendance à considérer ou à traiter une personne comme un objet sexuel, est présente au quotidien dans les interactions interpersonnelles comme dans les médias. En effet, ceux-ci (télévision, magazines, internet, jeux vidéo…) véhiculent des images sexualisées, idéalisées et stéréotypées de femmes et des hommes...
Research has shown that sexualized people are perceived as possessing fewer traits of a human being. Most scholars have argued that these effects are driven by revealing clothing, with targets wearing swimsuits or lingerie being perceived as possessing less mind and less humanness in comparison with nonsexualized targets. However, revealing clothin...
L’objectification sexuelle, à savoir la tendance à considérer ou à traiter une personne comme un objet sexuel, comme un corps à consommer est présente au quotidien dans les médias . En effet, ceux-ci (télévision, magazines, internet, jeux vidéo, etc.) véhiculent des images sexualisées, idéalisées et stéréotypées de femmes et des hommes qui ne sont...
The issue of considerable dropout rate in doctoral programs is well documented across a large number of countries. However, few studies address the factors associated with doctoral completion among Non-U.S. countries, multiple universities and fields of research. Nor do they investigate the interactions between these factors. The present paper aime...
In this paper, we will discuss various issues related to the concept of resilience, which we conventionally defined as a dynamic process allowing for positive adaptation in a context of significant adversity. First, we will try to draw the reader's attention to the importance of the concept of resilience in terms of public health. Second, we will a...
Dans ce chapitre, nous nous intéresserons au rôle des cognitions et attitudes dans les comportements intergroupes. Pour ce faire, nous commençons par introduire le concept de catégorisation sociale. Nous intéresserons à la façon dont ces deux aspects sont influencés par des variables d'ordres psycho-social (relations intergroupes, présence d'autrui...
Dans ce chapitre, nous nous intéresserons au rôle des cognitions et attitudes dans les comportements intergroupes. Pour ce faire, nous commençons par introduire le concept de catégorisation sociale. Nous intéresserons à la façon dont ces deux aspects sont influencés par des variables d'ordres psycho-social (relations intergroupes, présence d'autrui...