Malgorzata Kossowska
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 255373 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Malgorzata Kossowska |
| PRENOMES | Malgorzata |
| SOBRENOME | Kossowska |
| ASSINATURA | KOSSOWSKA M |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Jagiellonian University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5509-4196 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 41 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 227 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 41 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2003 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
The (not so) vicious cycle of national narcissism
National narcissism—an emotionally invested belief in a nation’s unrecognized greatness—has been linked to negative emotionality, such as stress and depressive symptoms, yet the directionality of this relationship remains unclear. Using a two-wave cross-lagged panel model on Czech young adults (N = 688), we test whether national narcissism and negative emotionality form a vicious cycle or whether their association is asymmetric. We also examine w…
Why do people share (mis)information? Power motives in social media
We investigated whether individuals driven by power motives are more inclined to disseminate (mis)information within their online networks. Four studies (N = 1882) assessed or manipulated chronic and context-specific power motives, alongside other social hierarchical constructs such as actual power. Our findings revealed that both chronic and context-specific power motives were significantly associated with increased dissemination of posts and ne…
Threat Perceptions and Closeness to Refugees
This study examines the longitudinal interplay between individuals’ perceptions of two types of intergroup threats—realistic and symbolic—and their feelings of closeness toward Ukrainian war refugees, using a three-wave design and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. By disentangling within-person dynamics from between-person effects, the findings reveal that stronger-than-usual feelings of closeness predicted reduced perceptions of both …
Does escaping a war zone feel worse than being there? War and coping by Ukrainian civilians in Ukraine and Poland
While the role of perceived social support (at the levels of friends and family) turned out to be limited, the (broader) expected support (from the West) played a more significant role. Additionally, our exploratory Civilian War Trauma Structural Equation Model suggests that anxiety interacts with the individual's overall vulnerability, thus exacerbating the psychological impact of war. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
(Micro)Identities in Flux
This conceptual article interrogates the role of identity politics—amplified by political elites and magnified through social media—in destabilizing the foundations of liberal democracy by deepening ideological, social, and cultural divisions. It critically examines the dynamics of micro‐identity formation, exploring their paradoxical capacity to either intensify polarization, erode democratic norms, and foster social fragmentation, or, conversel…
Toward integration
While the ‘rigidity-of-the-extreme’ research line focuses on deficits in cognitive flexibility (CF), the Significance Quest Theory highlights the motivational quest for significance (QFS) as a central driver of radicalization. Despite calls for integration, these research lines have not been combined, nor have their effects been disentangled across different dimensions of extremism. This preregistered study examines whether an interaction between…
Two Sources of Alienation from Society
Integrating insights into radicalization
The study of radicalization encompasses a broad spectrum of perspectives, with scholars from diverse disciplines – ranging from psychology, sociology, political science, criminology, to economics – contributing to its multifaceted comprehension. Despite this substantial body of empirical research, the knowledge is fragmented across disciplines, emphasizing the need for integration to establish a cohesive framework. As laying the groundwork for a …
Explaining the Relationship Between Agency and Communion by Means of Lay Personality Theories and Connectionist Modeling
Research on the relationship between the “Big Two” dimensions of social perception—Agency and Communion—has produced inconsistent findings, from independence to positive, negative, or curvilinear associations. We propose that these inconsistencies stem from individual differences in cognitive representations of how traits interrelate, i.e., lay personality theories (LPTs). Using connectionist modeling, we simulated impression formation processes …
Emotional foundations of refugee policy support
The current study investigates the relationship between fear of war and perceived intergroup threats and their influence on public support for refugee policies in Poland, within the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we explored how empathic concern and hostile emotions toward refugees relate to fear of war, perceived threats, and policy support. Participants completed psychometric measures assessing fear of war, perception…
Socio‐psychological barriers preventing people from helping in times of crisis
A robust field of research has elucidated when and why people are willing to offer help in times of crisis. Yet helping behaviour does not always occur when needed, and the absence of helping during crisis is less well studied. By broadly defining a crisis as an extremely difficult, disruptive and dangerous situation, which may result in possible harm to individuals, groups and societies, this article reviews research focused on the following gen…
Longitudinal effects of helping war refugees on intergroup threat and fear of war
This study investigates the longitudinal effects of aiding war refugees on perceptions of intergroup threat and the prospective fear of being affected by military conflict. We hypothesized that engaging in helping behaviors directed towards refugees would prompt individuals to perceive these actions as serving vital self-functions (i.e., satisfying basic psychological needs), which, in turn, could potentially mitigate the intergroup threat percei…
Internet-based micro-identities as a driver of societal disintegration
The article discusses the role of digital media use in societal transformations, with a specific focus on the emergence of micro-identities. It also explores the extent to which such transformations entail increasing the risk of societal disintegration—defined as the erosion of established social structures, values, and norms. Our contention is that the distinctive attributes of digital media, coupled with the myriad expanding opportunities of us…
Political ideology and belief change in the face of counterevidence
This paper investigates the role of political ideology with regard to changes in beliefs on political and non‐political issues. In line with the political asymmetry hypothesis and threat sensitivity accounts in relation to ideology, it was assumed that right‐wing adherents would change their prior beliefs (on political and non‐political issues) to a lesser extent in response to counterevidence than left‐wing adherents. We also expected that the m…
The Role of Political Ideology and Open-Minded Thinking Style in the (in)Accuracy of Factual Beliefs
Acting collectively against air pollution
Author Correction
Right-wing ideology reduces the effects of education on climate change beliefs in more developed countries
The Effects of Needs for Security and Certainty on Economic Beliefs
We suggest that the effects of needs for security and certainty (NSC) on economic beliefs result from potentially competing dispositional (political engagement) and contextual (the country-level political narrative around the welfare state) influences. An analysis of data from the 2016 European Social Survey ( N = 40,870) showed that at low levels of political engagement, NSC is associated with left-wing beliefs. However, at high levels of politi…
Ideology shapes trust in scientists and attitudes towards vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic
This paper investigates the influence of ideology on trust in scientists. We assume that during a pandemic, ideology is linked to levels of trust in scientists such that those espousing left- (vs. right-) wing beliefs trust the scientific profession more. We posit that the negative perception of scientists, a feature of right-wing narratives in the country of study, underlies this effect. Additionally, we argue that ideology has an indirect impac…
A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic
Right‐ and left‐wing prejudice toward dissimilar groups in cultural and economic domains
According to recent studies, people on both the political right and left show prejudice toward groups whose beliefs are in conflict with their own. This prediction applies to both cultural and economic dimensions of political beliefs. In three studies ( N = 499) we demonstrate that people on both the cultural and economic right and left show negative attitudes toward groups on the other side of the given spectrum and that underlying this effect i…
Need for closure and compensatory rule‐based perception
When making comparisons, people tend to use routinized standards, rules, and knowledge structures. Compensatory rules (e.g., “if competent, then cold”, “if incompetent, then warm”) allow for the quick and easy evaluation of groups when they are compared. We claim that the application of these rules is especially attractive for people who are motivated to seek quick and firm answers (people high in the need for closure— NFC ). However, we assume t…
Disparate roads to certainty processing strategy choices under need for closure
This paper describes a programme of research addressing an intriguing inconsistency in research findings about cognitive processes under a high need for cognitive closure (NFC). While early studies demonstrated that individuals who seek closure opt for closed-minded cognitive strategies, a growing body of research has identified a number of circumstances in which individuals who are high in NFC engage in effortful, open-minded information process…
Uncertainty and prejudice
Past research indicates that being religious is frequently motivated by the need to avoid uncertainty and associated with prejudice against value‐violating groups. The present research clarifies these previous findings and shows for the first time a causal link between a sense of uncertainty and group attitudes through religiosity and the perception of the target group's mindset. Study 1 demonstrates that belief in God is associated with uncertai…
Authoritarianism and Social Dominance in Western and Eastern Europe
The present study tests whether the magnitude of the relation between Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) is stable across and within cultures, whether their differential relations with value orientations and sociopolitical attitudes remain stable in spite of these possible differences, and whether their differential relations point to a different genesis. For these purposes, two student samples (total N = 684…
The Relationship Between Need for Closure and Conservative Beliefs in Western and Eastern Europe
This work explored the hypothesis that need for closure is associated with the adoption of conservative ideology. Two different studies on eastern and western European samples (Polish and Flemish) supported the hypothesis that need for closure—as measured by Webster and Kruglanski's (1994 ) Need for Closure Scale—is related to conservative beliefs. However, in the second study, a negative relationship between need for closure and economic conserv…
The Presence of Left-Wing Authoritarianism in Western Europe and Its Relationship with Conservative Ideology
The presence of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as well as its relationship with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and conservative ideology was tested in three Flemish samples. In the first study conducted on a sample of ordinary voters (N = 208), a newly developed LWA scale was found to be internally consistent and to show high construct validity. In the second study, another voter sample (N = 264) and a sample of political activists (N = 69) …
Addicted to answers
Conspiracy theories offer simple answers to complex problems by providing explanations for uncertain situations. Thus, they should be attractive to individuals who are intolerant of uncertainty and seek cognitive closure. We hypothesized that need for cognitive closure (NFCC) should foster conspiracy beliefs about events that lack clear official explanations, especially when conspiracy theories are temporarily salient. In Experiment 1, NFCC posit…
The impact of superordinate identification on the justification of intergroup inequalities
Previous research on superordinate identification demonstrated the positive effects of such identification on intergroup relations. Our study investigated the hypothesis that superordinate identity increases acceptance of intergroup inequalities among members of low‐status groups. The results obtained from two studies supported our predictions. Superordinate identification increased the justification of unequal funding by members of the disadvant…
Ideology shapes trust in scientists and attitudes towards vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic
This paper investigates the influence of ideology on trust in scientists. We assume that during a pandemic, ideology is linked to levels of trust in scientists such that those espousing left- (vs. right-) wing beliefs trust the scientific profession more. We posit that the negative perception of scientists, a feature of right-wing narratives in the country of study, underlies this effect. Additionally, we argue that ideology has an indirect impac…
Right‐ and left‐wing prejudice toward dissimilar groups in cultural and economic domains
According to recent studies, people on both the political right and left show prejudice toward groups whose beliefs are in conflict with their own. This prediction applies to both cultural and economic dimensions of political beliefs. In three studies ( N = 499) we demonstrate that people on both the cultural and economic right and left show negative attitudes toward groups on the other side of the given spectrum and that underlying this effect i…
A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic
Relationships between right‐wing authoritarianism, terrorism threat, and attitudes towards restrictions of civil rights
The present study tested the role of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), terrorist threat, and sociopolitical 'climate' as predictors of support for governmental anti-terrorism policies and actions. Two dimensions of analysis were defined: the presence versus absence of al-Qaeda attacks, and adherence to surveillance versus anti-surveillance mainstream politics. In order to study the influence of these two contextual dimensions on the expression o…
Many faces of dogmatism
In this article, we suggest that dogmatic beliefs, manifested as strong beliefs that there is no God (i.e., dogmatic atheism) as well as strong beliefs in God (i.e., religious orthodoxy), can serve as a cognitive response to uncertainty. Moreover, we claim that people who dogmatically do not believe in religion and those who dogmatically believe in religion are equally prone to intolerance and prejudice towards groups that violate their important…
Need for closure and heuristic information processing
In contrast to the ample research that shows a positive relationship between the need for closure (NFC) and heuristic information processing, this research examines the hypothesis that this relationship is moderated by the ability to achieve closure (AAC), that is, the ability to use information-processing strategies consistent with the level of NFC. Three different operationalizations of heuristic information processing were used: recall of info…
Longitudinal effects of helping war refugees on intergroup threat and fear of war
This study investigates the longitudinal effects of aiding war refugees on perceptions of intergroup threat and the prospective fear of being affected by military conflict. We hypothesized that engaging in helping behaviors directed towards refugees would prompt individuals to perceive these actions as serving vital self-functions (i.e., satisfying basic psychological needs), which, in turn, could potentially mitigate the intergroup threat percei…
The Role of Political Ideology and Open-Minded Thinking Style in the (in)Accuracy of Factual Beliefs
(Micro)Identities in Flux
This conceptual article interrogates the role of identity politics—amplified by political elites and magnified through social media—in destabilizing the foundations of liberal democracy by deepening ideological, social, and cultural divisions. It critically examines the dynamics of micro‐identity formation, exploring their paradoxical capacity to either intensify polarization, erode democratic norms, and foster social fragmentation, or, conversel…
Integrating insights into radicalization
The study of radicalization encompasses a broad spectrum of perspectives, with scholars from diverse disciplines – ranging from psychology, sociology, political science, criminology, to economics – contributing to its multifaceted comprehension. Despite this substantial body of empirical research, the knowledge is fragmented across disciplines, emphasizing the need for integration to establish a cohesive framework. As laying the groundwork for a …
Political ideology and belief change in the face of counterevidence
This paper investigates the role of political ideology with regard to changes in beliefs on political and non‐political issues. In line with the political asymmetry hypothesis and threat sensitivity accounts in relation to ideology, it was assumed that right‐wing adherents would change their prior beliefs (on political and non‐political issues) to a lesser extent in response to counterevidence than left‐wing adherents. We also expected that the m…
Acting collectively against air pollution
Need for closure and compensatory rule‐based perception
When making comparisons, people tend to use routinized standards, rules, and knowledge structures. Compensatory rules (e.g., “if competent, then cold”, “if incompetent, then warm”) allow for the quick and easy evaluation of groups when they are compared. We claim that the application of these rules is especially attractive for people who are motivated to seek quick and firm answers (people high in the need for closure— NFC ). However, we assume t…
Correspondence between images of terrorists and preferred approaches to counterterrorism
Two studies examined the moderating effects of right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation on the relationship between terrorist images (soldiers versus criminals) and preference for counterterrorist actions (military aggression versus criminal prosecution). Study 1 indicated that the perception of Al‐Qaeda terrorists as soldiers was related to preference for military counterterrorism, especially among people high in social domin…
Stereotyped images of terrorists as predictors of fear of future terrorist attacks
Three studies examine how al Qaeda terrorists are perceived by Polish participants and how these perceptions are related to emotional reactions to terrorism and support for counter‐terrorism measures, such as the installation of the American National Missile Defence (NMD) system in Poland. In study 1 we combine qualitative and quantitative approach to test the terrorist perception and identify four images of al Qaeda terrorists: psychopathic crim…
The Relationship Between Need for Closure and Conservative Beliefs in Western and Eastern Europe
This work explored the hypothesis that need for closure is associated with the adoption of conservative ideology. Two different studies on eastern and western European samples (Polish and Flemish) supported the hypothesis that need for closure—as measured by Webster and Kruglanski's (1994 ) Need for Closure Scale—is related to conservative beliefs. However, in the second study, a negative relationship between need for closure and economic conserv…
Authoritarianism and Social Dominance in Western and Eastern Europe
The present study tests whether the magnitude of the relation between Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) is stable across and within cultures, whether their differential relations with value orientations and sociopolitical attitudes remain stable in spite of these possible differences, and whether their differential relations point to a different genesis. For these purposes, two student samples (total N = 684…
The Presence of Left-Wing Authoritarianism in Western Europe and Its Relationship with Conservative Ideology
The presence of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as well as its relationship with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and conservative ideology was tested in three Flemish samples. In the first study conducted on a sample of ordinary voters (N = 208), a newly developed LWA scale was found to be internally consistent and to show high construct validity. In the second study, another voter sample (N = 264) and a sample of political activists (N = 69) …
Individual differences in decisiveness
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Age Differences in Conservatism
The present study investigates the commonly found age–conservatism relationship by combining insights from studies on the development of personality and motivated social cognition with findings on the relationships between these factors and conservative beliefs. Based on data collected in Belgium ( N =2,373) and Poland ( N =939), we found the expected linear effect of age on indicators of social‐cultural conservatism in Belgium and Poland and the…
Stereotyped images of terrorists as predictors of fear of future terrorist attacks
Three studies examine how al Qaeda terrorists are perceived by Polish participants and how these perceptions are related to emotional reactions to terrorism and support for counter‐terrorism measures, such as the installation of the American National Missile Defence (NMD) system in Poland. In study 1 we combine qualitative and quantitative approach to test the terrorist perception and identify four images of al Qaeda terrorists: psychopathic crim…
Motherland under attack! Nationalism, terrorist threat, and support for the restriction of civil liberties
Motherland under attack! Nationalism, terrorist threat, and support for the restriction of civil liberties The paper addresses the role which national attitudes play in terrorist threat perception and in the choice of specific counterterrorism strategies. Study 1 shows that participants higher on nationalism tend to perceive the threat of terrorism as more serious than participants lower on nationalism. Moreover, we found that nationalism mediate…
Correspondence between images of terrorists and preferred approaches to counterterrorism
Two studies examined the moderating effects of right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation on the relationship between terrorist images (soldiers versus criminals) and preference for counterterrorist actions (military aggression versus criminal prosecution). Study 1 indicated that the perception of Al‐Qaeda terrorists as soldiers was related to preference for military counterterrorism, especially among people high in social domin…
Relationships between right‐wing authoritarianism, terrorism threat, and attitudes towards restrictions of civil rights
The present study tested the role of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), terrorist threat, and sociopolitical 'climate' as predictors of support for governmental anti-terrorism policies and actions. Two dimensions of analysis were defined: the presence versus absence of al-Qaeda attacks, and adherence to surveillance versus anti-surveillance mainstream politics. In order to study the influence of these two contextual dimensions on the expression o…
The impact of background category information on the creation of social cliques
The impact of background category information on the creation of social cliques: The role of need for cognitive closure and decisiveness This article focuses on the role of need for cognitive closure in the process of mental model creation about social relations (i.e. social cliques). We assumed that high (vs. low) need for closure participants tend to rely on background category information when forming social cliques. We predicted that this ten…
Need for closure and cognitive structuring among younger and older adults
Need for closure and cognitive structuring among younger and older adults The paper reported two correlational studies. The aim of the Study 1 was to examine the hypothesis that age moderates the relationship between need for closure (NFC) and cognitive structuring. Results of the study revealed that aging with increased need for closure was associated with better recognition of irrelevant information than schema-relevant items, in testing hypoth…
The impact of superordinate identification on the justification of intergroup inequalities
Previous research on superordinate identification demonstrated the positive effects of such identification on intergroup relations. Our study investigated the hypothesis that superordinate identity increases acceptance of intergroup inequalities among members of low‐status groups. The results obtained from two studies supported our predictions. Superordinate identification increased the justification of unequal funding by members of the disadvant…
Need for closure and heuristic information processing
In contrast to the ample research that shows a positive relationship between the need for closure (NFC) and heuristic information processing, this research examines the hypothesis that this relationship is moderated by the ability to achieve closure (AAC), that is, the ability to use information-processing strategies consistent with the level of NFC. Three different operationalizations of heuristic information processing were used: recall of info…
The Motivated Gatekeeper of Our Minds
Many faces of dogmatism
In this article, we suggest that dogmatic beliefs, manifested as strong beliefs that there is no God (i.e., dogmatic atheism) as well as strong beliefs in God (i.e., religious orthodoxy), can serve as a cognitive response to uncertainty. Moreover, we claim that people who dogmatically do not believe in religion and those who dogmatically believe in religion are equally prone to intolerance and prejudice towards groups that violate their important…
Disparate roads to certainty processing strategy choices under need for closure
This paper describes a programme of research addressing an intriguing inconsistency in research findings about cognitive processes under a high need for cognitive closure (NFC). While early studies demonstrated that individuals who seek closure opt for closed-minded cognitive strategies, a growing body of research has identified a number of circumstances in which individuals who are high in NFC engage in effortful, open-minded information process…
Uncertainty and prejudice
Past research indicates that being religious is frequently motivated by the need to avoid uncertainty and associated with prejudice against value‐violating groups. The present research clarifies these previous findings and shows for the first time a causal link between a sense of uncertainty and group attitudes through religiosity and the perception of the target group's mindset. Study 1 demonstrates that belief in God is associated with uncertai…
Addicted to answers
Conspiracy theories offer simple answers to complex problems by providing explanations for uncertain situations. Thus, they should be attractive to individuals who are intolerant of uncertainty and seek cognitive closure. We hypothesized that need for cognitive closure (NFCC) should foster conspiracy beliefs about events that lack clear official explanations, especially when conspiracy theories are temporarily salient. In Experiment 1, NFCC posit…
Right‐ and left‐wing prejudice toward dissimilar groups in cultural and economic domains
According to recent studies, people on both the political right and left show prejudice toward groups whose beliefs are in conflict with their own. This prediction applies to both cultural and economic dimensions of political beliefs. In three studies ( N = 499) we demonstrate that people on both the cultural and economic right and left show negative attitudes toward groups on the other side of the given spectrum and that underlying this effect i…
Need for closure and compensatory rule‐based perception
When making comparisons, people tend to use routinized standards, rules, and knowledge structures. Compensatory rules (e.g., “if competent, then cold”, “if incompetent, then warm”) allow for the quick and easy evaluation of groups when they are compared. We claim that the application of these rules is especially attractive for people who are motivated to seek quick and firm answers (people high in the need for closure— NFC ). However, we assume t…
Right-wing ideology reduces the effects of education on climate change beliefs in more developed countries
The Effects of Needs for Security and Certainty on Economic Beliefs
We suggest that the effects of needs for security and certainty (NSC) on economic beliefs result from potentially competing dispositional (political engagement) and contextual (the country-level political narrative around the welfare state) influences. An analysis of data from the 2016 European Social Survey ( N = 40,870) showed that at low levels of political engagement, NSC is associated with left-wing beliefs. However, at high levels of politi…
Ideology shapes trust in scientists and attitudes towards vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic
This paper investigates the influence of ideology on trust in scientists. We assume that during a pandemic, ideology is linked to levels of trust in scientists such that those espousing left- (vs. right-) wing beliefs trust the scientific profession more. We posit that the negative perception of scientists, a feature of right-wing narratives in the country of study, underlies this effect. Additionally, we argue that ideology has an indirect impac…
A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic
Acting collectively against air pollution
Psychology (33 obras) · Social Psychology (31 obras) · Political science (25 obras) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (24 obras) · Law (16 obras) · Politics (15 obras) · Cultural Differences and Values (13 obras) · Perception (11 obras) · Social Psychology (10 obras) · Sociology (10 obras)