Shira Gabriel’s research while affiliated with SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and other places

Objectives Trait mindfulness is associated with many measures of individual well-being, but its relationship to prosocial behavior is less clear. Prior research found that a brief intervention boosting state mindfulness led to increased prosocial behaviors among individuals with interdependent self-construals, but decreased prosocial behaviors among individuals with independent self-construals. The present research sought to examine trait mindfulness and prosocial behavior and to examine the moderating roles of both horizontal and vertical interdependence. Methods Participants (n = 149) came to a lab and read about a charitable cause. They then had the opportunity to stuff envelopes on behalf of a fundraising appeal for that cause. Previously, outside of the lab, participants had completed measures of trait mindfulness, self-construal, and individualism-collectivism. Results Trait mindfulness predicted increased helping behavior in the form of stuffing envelopes among people high in collective interdependent self-construal and among those low in horizontal or vertical individualism. Conclusions Findings suggest that trait mindfulness can predict either greater or lesser prosocial behavior depending on people's preexisting social goals and identities, and that this pattern is not limited to vertical individualism. Preregistration This study is not preregistered.

Social need fulfillment is imperative to well-being, leading to a strong motivation to ensure that social needs are met. The social surrogacy hypothesis proposes that individuals may use non-human social targets, including television characters, books, or comfort foods, to address social needs. The current work sought to examine the social surrogacy hypothesis in the domain of music. Utilizing both correlational (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) methodology, the current research suggests that music can provide social benefits in response to social threats. In addition, it suggests that music may operate via multiple social surrogate pathways (Study 1) and that the benefits of music are social in nature (Study 2).

This work examined the power of live music events to enhance wellbeing through collective effervescence (CE)—the sense of sacredness and connection felt when in large groups. Four studies ( N = 789) using both university and community samples examined the relationship between live music events and CE and how this relationship contributes to positive, lasting outcomes. Results suggest that CE is highly related to positive outcomes associated with attending live music events. CE uniquely predicted meaning in life and enjoyment during the event above and beyond related constructs. Feeling CE was also related to greater meaning in life during the event and continued happiness a week after live music events. Further, CE mediated effects between various elements of live music events (e.g., parasocial bonds with the artist) and positive lasting outcomes. In summary, CE plays a key role in the lasting wellbeing that follows live music events.

We propose that much of modern human behavior can be understood as the outcome of a primitive and implicit desire for social embeddedness (i.e., a desire to belong to a larger, societal-level collective). Research from our lab suggests that people watch television, follow celebrities, and go to concerts and sporting events, at least in part, to fill this need. Connections to other research and implications for understanding human behavior are discussed.

Scholars have long argued that religious rituals are essential for maintaining society, bringing meaning to life and increasing connections via the collective effervescence that they engender. A world in which fewer people attend religious services does not mean that people no longer benefit from the important outcomes associated with religious rituals. The current research examined whether people experience collective effervescence and positive outcomes in home-based rituals—specifically, Shabbat dinners facilitated by a Jewish organization that provides resources for home-based Shabbat dinners. Survey data was collected on almost 1000 attendees of the Shabbat dinners. The results suggest that (a) Shabbat dinners include both components of collective effervescence (a sensation of sacredness and connection to others); (b) “transcendence” collective effervescence was related to religiosity and meaningfulness, whereas “connectedness”collective effervescence was related to belonging and satisfaction; and (c) using instructional resources predicted increased meaning via religiosity and increased satisfaction via belonging. The authors conclude that home-based rituals can provide valuable outcomes in a world in which people are less likely to attend religious services.

Many media users feel as if they are engaging in an interaction or have a personal relationship with people they see in the media. These phenomena are collectively referred to as parasocial experiences (PSEs). This handbook offers a thorough synthesis of the fast-growing, international, and multidisciplinary research of PSEs, not only celebrating the field’s accomplishments to date but also outlining a blueprint for future growth. The book is organized into six parts that provide a state-of-the-art review of: (I) theoretical, conceptual, and operational definitions of PSEs; (II) parasocial relationships initiation, development, and termination; (III) theoretical models and research on PSEs across the life span; (IV) the effects of PSEs on media users’ self and their social life (e.g., intergroup relationships); (V) the effects of PSEs in various contexts such as health, politics, and marketing; and (VI) identifying understudied areas of research that call for further investigation (comparative cross-cultural research, marginalized racial/ethnic identities, nonamicable parasocial relationships). In addition to a thorough synthesis of the literature, the handbook identifies several critical theoretical questions that PSE research faces today. Across the thematic chapters, the authors debate several overarching critical theoretical issues in PSE research, such as the boundaries between parasocial and social phenomena and the distinctions between PSEs and other forms of involvement with media. The book also includes a hands-on methodological chapter that provides detailed information about measurement and manipulation of PSEs.

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one’s past, is associated with, or confers, psychological wellbeing (PWB). We identified a mechanism for this link: collective effervescence, a potent sense of connection to those present in an assembly and a sensation of transcendence (i.e., feeling that an experience is special or sacred). In six studies, involving measurement-of-mediation and experimental-causal-chain designs, nostalgia was associated with, and led to, higher PWB via collective effervescence. In Study 1, nostalgia was related to PWB through collective effervescence at the dispositional level. In Study 2, induced collective effervescence increased PWB. In Studies 3a–3c, induced nostalgia led to greater PWB due to collective effervescence. In Study 4, induced nostalgia increased PWB due to collective effervescence even when controlling for authenticity, an alternate mediator.

The opportunity for parents to select their children's school is both increasingly common and linked to school segregation in the U.S. Here, we investigate how race and racial attitudes shape parents' classroom preferences, which have direct implications for school choices. We measured the implicit and explicit racial attitudes of both White and Black parents (Study 1: N = 201; mean age = 35.46; 173 women, 28 men; 37 Black, 147 White) of preschool‐aged children who themselves were about to choose educational settings for their children, as well as those parents' preferences for classrooms varying in racial composition. Both implicit and explicit racial attitudes separately predicted classroom preferences, suggesting that both overt and covert racial prejudice play roles in the related decision of school enrollment. Results were replicated in a follow‐up study using a sample of college students (Study 2: N = 357; mean age = 18.90; 183 women, 169 men, 2 transgender, 2 non‐binary, 1 unreported; 144 Black, 213 White). Racially biased parents tend to prefer classrooms with fewer Black students, an effect that occurs even for implicit measures of bias and varies to some extent based on parental race. These effects have direct implications for patterns of segregation in American schools. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

The recent exponential increase in information available online has not only increased access to information about celebrities, but also decreased the degree to which that information is unambiguously positive. In the current work, we examined how positive celebrities (i.e. celebrities who are primarily admired) versus more ambiguous celebrities (i.e. celebrities about whom people have mixed feelings) differentially affect feelings about the self. Across three studies, we found that high attachment anxiety was associated with assimilating positive celebrities to feel better about the self, whereas attachment avoidance was associated with contrasting ambivalent celebrities to feel better to feel better about the self. Implications for parasocial relationships, social comparison, and attachment are discussed.

We argue that imaginary worlds gain much of their appeal because they fulfill the fundamental need of human beings to feel connected to other humans. Immersion into story worlds provides a sense of social connection to the characters and groups represented in the world. By fulfilling the need to belong, imaginary worlds provide a buffer against rejection and loneliness.