Gennaro Pica
Biographic Data
| ID | 766955 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gennaro Pica |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gennaro |
| FAMILY NAME | Pica |
| SIGNATURE | PICA G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Università di Camerino |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3739-7462 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The quest for significance and resistance to criminality: A case study in Centocelle, Rome / La búsqueda de significado y la resistencia a la criminalidad: un estudio de caso en Centocelle, Roma
This study integrates the 3N model of radicalization — Need, Narrative and Network — with social identity processes involved in collective action to examine civic mobilization against criminality. The focus is on Centocelle, a neighbourhood in Rome targeted by arson attacks in 2019, allegedly linked to organized crime. These incidents were perceived as both physical threats and symbolic humiliations, triggering a collective threat to significance…
Antimafia action: A test for a motivational hypothesis
A threat-complexity hypothesis of conspiracy thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic: Cross-national and longitudinal evidence of a three-way interaction effect of financial strain, disempowerment and p…
One way to cope with crises is by attributing their ultimate causes to malevolent conspiracies. As crises are rarely simple, and may involve an interplay between multiple, co-occurring threats, we suggest that conspiracy thinking mainly occurs among individuals who experience conditions of threat complexity - such as socioeconomic vulnerability paired with a sense of helplessness in society, and who are also sufficiently paranoid to infer a consp…
Sexuality and Morality: How Sexual Experiences Affect Self-Humanity Perceptions
The present research explored the relationship between sexual experiences and self-humanity perceptions. We investigated and found that the immoral perceptions of a sexual experience negatively predict self-humanity perceptions (Study 1), and that the recalling of a perceived moral sexual experience predicts higher self-humanity perceptions as compared to the recalling of an everyday social interaction (control group; Study 2b) and of a perceived…
Conspiring under threats! An investigation of associations between Covid ‐19 health and economic threats and conspiracy beliefs in Italy and Argentina
Theory and research suggest that threats aroused by a given crisis lead to conspiracy beliefs. Although crises involve the arise of multiple threats (e.g., economic, safety, etc.) diversely affecting various needs and outcomes (i.e., cognition, emotion and behaviour), no research has yet focused on specific relations that different threats may have with the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. In this study, we distinguished between health and econ…
The Precarity of Progress: Implications of a Shifting Gendered Division of Labor for Relationships and Well-Being as a Function of Country-Level Gender Equality
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 data for women and men ( N = 10,238) was collected weekly during the first few months of the pandemic…
Intentions to be Vaccinated Against Covid-19: The Role of Prosociality and Conspiracy Beliefs across 20 Countries
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-sectional online survey was conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, involving 6697 responden…
Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries
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 empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sampl…
Identifying important individual‐ and country‐level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: A machine learning analysis
Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially rel…
Let’s go forward, I forgive you! On motivational correlates of interpersonal forgiveness
Lockdown Lives: A Longitudinal Study of Inter-Relationships Among Feelings of Loneliness, Social Contacts, and Solidarity During the Covid-19 Lockdown in Early 2020
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 who feel more lonely are less likely to use that strategy. Solidarity played only a small role in s…
The Motivational Underpinnings of Intentions to Use Doping in Sport: A Sample of Young Non-Professional Athletes
Doping use is considered as a deviant behavior in sport contexts, and it is necessary to recognize preventive factors to shut down the negative consequences. We proposed that athletes experiencing loss of personal significance would be more prone to doping use intentions. This pathway should occur through the effect of the enhanced predominance of obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion that such athletes experience concerning their sport activity, wh…
We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
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 society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to hel…
The epistemic bases of changes of opinion and choices: The joint effects of the need for cognitive closure, ascribed epistemic authority and quality of advice
This research investigates the epistemic underpinnings of changes of opinion and choices. Basing our investigations on the Lay Epistemic Theory, we hypothesized that individuals with a high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure would be more influenced by the high (vs. low) level of the epistemic authority of an advisor, and would be less influenced by the quality of the provided advice. These hypotheses were supported in two experimental studies …
The Unique Role of Regulatory Mode Orientations in Implicit and Explicit Self-Forgiveness
The present research addresses the unique role of locomotion and assessment regulatory-mode orientations on self-forgiveness, by controlling for personality traits and by excluding possible effects of variables linked to strategies that underestimate one’s culpability. In three studies (Total N = 471) we found that assessment obstructs, while locomotion promotes, self-forgiveness both at an explicit (Studies 1 and 2) and at an implicit level (Stu…
Prejudice in person memory: Self‐threat biases memories of stigmatized group members
The present research investigated whether self‐threat biases memory via retrieval‐induced forgetting. Results show that people under self‐threat whose goal is to restore their self‐worth by making prejudicial judgments that deprecate others are more likely to exhibit an enhanced RIF effect for positive items and a reduced RIF for negative items ascribed to a stereotyped target (i.e., homosexual). Overall, the present findings are consistent with …
The “more is less” effect in equifinal structures: Alternative means reduce the intensity and quality of motivation
When comparative ads are more effective: Fit with audience’s regulatory mode
On the psychology of time in action: Regulatory mode orientations and procrastination
Six studies explored the relations of the regulatory modes of locomotion and assessment to individuals' tendency toward procrastination. Across academic and organizational contexts, and a variety of ways of assessing procrastination, the authors found assessment to be positively related to procrastination and locomotion to be negatively related to procrastination. Discussion considered implications of these findings to task environments that may …
On the psychology of time in action: Regulatory mode orientations and procrastination
Six studies explored the relations of the regulatory modes of locomotion and assessment to individuals' tendency toward procrastination. Across academic and organizational contexts, and a variety of ways of assessing procrastination, the authors found assessment to be positively related to procrastination and locomotion to be negatively related to procrastination. Discussion considered implications of these findings to task environments that may …
The Precarity of Progress: Implications of a Shifting Gendered Division of Labor for Relationships and Well-Being as a Function of Country-Level Gender Equality
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 data for women and men ( N = 10,238) was collected weekly during the first few months of the pandemic…
Identifying important individual‐ and country‐level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: A machine learning analysis
Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially rel…
The “more is less” effect in equifinal structures: Alternative means reduce the intensity and quality of motivation
We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
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 society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to hel…
The epistemic bases of changes of opinion and choices: The joint effects of the need for cognitive closure, ascribed epistemic authority and quality of advice
This research investigates the epistemic underpinnings of changes of opinion and choices. Basing our investigations on the Lay Epistemic Theory, we hypothesized that individuals with a high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure would be more influenced by the high (vs. low) level of the epistemic authority of an advisor, and would be less influenced by the quality of the provided advice. These hypotheses were supported in two experimental studies …
A threat-complexity hypothesis of conspiracy thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic: Cross-national and longitudinal evidence of a three-way interaction effect of financial strain, disempowerment and p…
One way to cope with crises is by attributing their ultimate causes to malevolent conspiracies. As crises are rarely simple, and may involve an interplay between multiple, co-occurring threats, we suggest that conspiracy thinking mainly occurs among individuals who experience conditions of threat complexity - such as socioeconomic vulnerability paired with a sense of helplessness in society, and who are also sufficiently paranoid to infer a consp…
When comparative ads are more effective: Fit with audience’s regulatory mode
On the psychology of time in action: Regulatory mode orientations and procrastination
Six studies explored the relations of the regulatory modes of locomotion and assessment to individuals' tendency toward procrastination. Across academic and organizational contexts, and a variety of ways of assessing procrastination, the authors found assessment to be positively related to procrastination and locomotion to be negatively related to procrastination. Discussion considered implications of these findings to task environments that may …
When comparative ads are more effective: Fit with audience’s regulatory mode
The “more is less” effect in equifinal structures: Alternative means reduce the intensity and quality of motivation
Prejudice in person memory: Self‐threat biases memories of stigmatized group members
The present research investigated whether self‐threat biases memory via retrieval‐induced forgetting. Results show that people under self‐threat whose goal is to restore their self‐worth by making prejudicial judgments that deprecate others are more likely to exhibit an enhanced RIF effect for positive items and a reduced RIF for negative items ascribed to a stereotyped target (i.e., homosexual). Overall, the present findings are consistent with …
The Unique Role of Regulatory Mode Orientations in Implicit and Explicit Self-Forgiveness
The present research addresses the unique role of locomotion and assessment regulatory-mode orientations on self-forgiveness, by controlling for personality traits and by excluding possible effects of variables linked to strategies that underestimate one’s culpability. In three studies (Total N = 471) we found that assessment obstructs, while locomotion promotes, self-forgiveness both at an explicit (Studies 1 and 2) and at an implicit level (Stu…
The Motivational Underpinnings of Intentions to Use Doping in Sport: A Sample of Young Non-Professional Athletes
Doping use is considered as a deviant behavior in sport contexts, and it is necessary to recognize preventive factors to shut down the negative consequences. We proposed that athletes experiencing loss of personal significance would be more prone to doping use intentions. This pathway should occur through the effect of the enhanced predominance of obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion that such athletes experience concerning their sport activity, wh…
We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
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 society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to hel…
The epistemic bases of changes of opinion and choices: The joint effects of the need for cognitive closure, ascribed epistemic authority and quality of advice
This research investigates the epistemic underpinnings of changes of opinion and choices. Basing our investigations on the Lay Epistemic Theory, we hypothesized that individuals with a high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure would be more influenced by the high (vs. low) level of the epistemic authority of an advisor, and would be less influenced by the quality of the provided advice. These hypotheses were supported in two experimental studies …
Let’s go forward, I forgive you! On motivational correlates of interpersonal forgiveness
Lockdown Lives: A Longitudinal Study of Inter-Relationships Among Feelings of Loneliness, Social Contacts, and Solidarity During the Covid-19 Lockdown in Early 2020
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 who feel more lonely are less likely to use that strategy. Solidarity played only a small role in s…
Intentions to be Vaccinated Against Covid-19: The Role of Prosociality and Conspiracy Beliefs across 20 Countries
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-sectional online survey was conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, involving 6697 responden…
Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries
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 empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sampl…
Identifying important individual‐ and country‐level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: A machine learning analysis
Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially rel…
Sexuality and Morality: How Sexual Experiences Affect Self-Humanity Perceptions
The present research explored the relationship between sexual experiences and self-humanity perceptions. We investigated and found that the immoral perceptions of a sexual experience negatively predict self-humanity perceptions (Study 1), and that the recalling of a perceived moral sexual experience predicts higher self-humanity perceptions as compared to the recalling of an everyday social interaction (control group; Study 2b) and of a perceived…
Conspiring under threats! An investigation of associations between Covid ‐19 health and economic threats and conspiracy beliefs in Italy and Argentina
Theory and research suggest that threats aroused by a given crisis lead to conspiracy beliefs. Although crises involve the arise of multiple threats (e.g., economic, safety, etc.) diversely affecting various needs and outcomes (i.e., cognition, emotion and behaviour), no research has yet focused on specific relations that different threats may have with the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. In this study, we distinguished between health and econ…
The Precarity of Progress: Implications of a Shifting Gendered Division of Labor for Relationships and Well-Being as a Function of Country-Level Gender Equality
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 data for women and men ( N = 10,238) was collected weekly during the first few months of the pandemic…
Antimafia action: A test for a motivational hypothesis
A threat-complexity hypothesis of conspiracy thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic: Cross-national and longitudinal evidence of a three-way interaction effect of financial strain, disempowerment and p…
One way to cope with crises is by attributing their ultimate causes to malevolent conspiracies. As crises are rarely simple, and may involve an interplay between multiple, co-occurring threats, we suggest that conspiracy thinking mainly occurs among individuals who experience conditions of threat complexity - such as socioeconomic vulnerability paired with a sense of helplessness in society, and who are also sufficiently paranoid to infer a consp…
The quest for significance and resistance to criminality: A case study in Centocelle, Rome / La búsqueda de significado y la resistencia a la criminalidad: un estudio de caso en Centocelle, Roma
This study integrates the 3N model of radicalization — Need, Narrative and Network — with social identity processes involved in collective action to examine civic mobilization against criminality. The focus is on Centocelle, a neighbourhood in Rome targeted by arson attacks in 2019, allegedly linked to organized crime. These incidents were perceived as both physical threats and symbolic humiliations, triggering a collective threat to significance…
Psychology (18 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Political science (6 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (6 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (5 works) · Pandemic (5 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (5 works) · Sociology (5 works)