Well-being as a function of person-country fit in human values

Thinking you're different matters more for belonging than being different

Belonging to a community is essential for wellbeing, but potentially unattainable for those dissimilar from a group. In the present work, we ask whether belongingness is better predicted by acting and thinking like peers or believing you act and think like peers. Students (N = 1181) reported their belonging and how much they, their friends, and an "average student" endorsed local behavioral norms and general values. We calculated difference scores for behaviors and values capturing perceived similarity to the average, actual similarity to the average, and accuracy around the norm. Key results indicate that perceived behavioral similarity to the average, when controlling for other differences, predicts belonging and most robustly mediates between identity and belonging. Using social network analysis, we find behavioral differences from friends are meaningfully linked to network density and racial homophily. Efficient interventions for enhanced belonging could highlight similarities between students and their peers.

Satisfaction and performance of software developers during enforced work from home in the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the daily lives of software engineers were heavily disrupted as they were abruptly forced to work remotely from home. To better understand and contrast typical working days in this new reality with work in pre-pandemic times, we conducted one exploratory (N = 192) and one confirmatory study (N = 290) with software engineers recruited remotely. Specifically, we build on self-determination theory to evaluate whether and how specific activities are associated with software engineers' satisfaction and productivity. To explore the subject domain, we first ran a two-wave longitudinal study. We found that the time software engineers spent on specific activities (e.g., coding, bugfixing, helping others) while working from home was similar to pre-pandemic times. Also, the amount of time developers spent on each activity was unrelated to their general well-being, perceived productivity, and other variables such as basic needs. Our confirmatory study found that activity-specific variables (e.g., how much autonomy software engineers had during coding) do predict activity satisfaction and productivity but not by activity-independent variables such as general resilience or a good work-life balance. Interestingly, we found that satisfaction and autonomy were significantly higher when software engineers were helping others and lower when they were bugfixing. Finally, we discuss implications for software engineers, management, and researchers. In particular, active company policies to support developers' need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence appear particularly effective in a WFH context.

How can human values influence work engagement among teachers? an exploratory study

Human values provide essential insights into how personal characteristics can help build a more positive work environment within an educational context, impacting variables such as organizational commitment and satisfaction with university life. However, it is still unknown to what extent values can help to influence the teachers’ level of work engagement. That is, whether specific values can lead people to present a higher motivation at work. Therefore, we conducted one study (N = 345; Mage = 36.45, SDage = 10.33) to assess teachers’ associations between human values and work engagement. We used the Basic Values Survey and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. To evaluate the data, we checked the associations between the variables using Pearson’s correlations and whether human values could significantly predict work engagement using hierarchical regressions. Our results showed that all values significantly correlate to the work engagement dimensions. However, only interactive values (e.g., affectivity, belonging, support), characterized by the motivation to develop and maintain relationships with others, significantly predicted work engagement. Such findings highlight the importance of an environment that allows the development and maintenance of relationships between teachers and their peers and students, favoring a more excellent state of mind towards their work and enhancing their motivation to do their job. We are confident that our research brings novelty to the literature on work engagement, providing the first assessment of human values’ impact on teachers’ motivation towards work.

Buffering the effects of bad news: Exposure to others' kindness alleviates the aversive effects of viewing others' acts of immorality

Negatively valenced news dominates the press, with stories of death and destruction gaining significant traction while also negatively impacting people's mental health and perceptions of humanity. Given that horrific acts happen and need to be reported, we examined if news stories featuring others' kindness could undo the aversive effects of news stories featuring others' immorality. In Studies 1a-d we tested whether media exposure to the acts of kindness that occurred in response to a terrorist attack could alleviate the aversive effects of media exposure to the terrorist attack. In Study 2, we examined whether, more generally, the aversive effects of news stories featuring immorality (e.g., homicide, paedophilia, bullying) could be alleviated through news stories featuring acts of kindness (e.g., volunteering, philanthropy, caring for the homeless). In Studies 1 and 2, we found that participants exposed to others' immorality and then others' kindness suffered from less aversive changes to their mood, experienced greater levels of elevation and were more inclined to believe in the goodness of others, than participants exposed only to others' immorality. Given this, we suggest there is merit in journalists shining a light on others' kindness if people's affective well-being and belief in the goodness of humanity is to remain intact.

The effect of similarity between owner’s values and their perceptions of their pet’s values on life satisfaction

It is often assumed that pet ownership improves peoples’ wellbeing, but evidence of this pet effect has been mixed. We extended past research on pet personality, the pet effect, and value congruence to examine whether people perceive their pets to have humanlike values and if owner-pet values similarity has a positive effect on owners’ life satisfaction. In a large and diverse sample of Australian dog and cat owners, we find that people imbue their dogs and cats with humanlike values in a way that reflects the theoretical circular structure of values. Importantly, perceptions of the values of dogs and cats differed in that dogs were perceived to prioritize more social-focus values, whereas cats were perceived to prioritize more personal-focus values. Additionally, we find that similarity in the values profile of dog owners and their dogs is positively associated with life satisfaction, but this was not the case for cats. However, when we examined associations between individual values similarity and life satisfaction, our results suggest a more complex and nuanced picture of both direct and indirect similarity effects.

Latent profile analysis of personal values among Chinese college students: associations with mental health disorders and life satisfaction

Interindividual differences in personal values are prevalent both within and across societies. Interindividual differences in personal value and the relationships with mental health disorders and life satisfaction remain to be holistically considered, especially in China. The present study aims to characterize personal value profiles based on Schwartz's theory model and to examine differences in several mental health-related disorders and life satisfaction potentially across these profiles. Using convenience sampling, a sample of 8,540 Chinese college students (Mage = 18.89, SDage = 2.02, 57.7% male) from three universities completed a questionnaire assessing personal values, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, substance disorders, crime/violence, and life satisfaction. The latent profile analysis identified five personal value profiles, which were labelled as traditional social orientation, open personal orientation, open social orientation, moderate traditional social orientation, and average. Chinese college students in the three social orientation profiles reported low mental health disorders and high life satisfaction. In contrast, students in the personal orientation profile reported high mental health disorders and low life satisfaction. The results indicate the heterogeneity of Chinese college students' personal values and the positive relationship of social-oriented values with mental health and life satisfaction in collectivist cultures.