We report five studies examining the unique role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. In intergroup terms, felt understanding is the belief that members of an outgroup understand and accept the perspectives of ingroup members, including ingroup members’ beliefs, values, experiences, and self-definition/identity. In Studies 1 (Scotland-UK relations; N = 5033) and 2 (UK-EU relations; N = 861) felt understanding consistently and strongly predicted outcomes such as trust, action intentions, and political separatism, including participants’ actual ‘Brexit’ referendum vote in Study 2. These effects were apparent even when controlling for outgroup stereotypes and meta-stereotypes. Felt understanding was a unique predictor of outgroup trust and forgiveness in Study 3 (Catholic-Protestant relations in Northern Ireland; N = 1162), and was a powerful predictor of political separatism even when controlling for specific, relational appraisals including negative interdependence and identity threat in Study 4 (Basque-Spanish relations; N = 205). Study 5 (N = 190) included a direct manipulation of felt understanding, which had predicted effects on evaluation of the outgroup and of ingroup-outgroup relations. Overall, the findings provide converging evidence for the critical role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. We discuss future research possibilities, including the emotional correlates of felt understanding, and its role in intergroup interactions.

What makes people feel respected or disrespected in political discussions with contrary-minded others? In two studies, participants recalled a situation in which they had engaged in a discussion about a political topic. In Study 1 (n = 126), we used qualitative methods to document a wide array of behaviors and expressions that made people feel (dis)respected in such discussions, and derived a list of nine motives that may have underlain their significance for (dis)respect judgments. Study 2 (n = 523) used network analysis tools to explore how the satisfaction of these candidate motives is associated with felt respect. On the whole, respect was associated with motives for esteem, autonomy, fairness, relatedness, knowledge and having pleasant interactions. In addition, the pattern of associations differed for participants who reported on a discussion with a stranger vs. with someone they knew well, suggesting that the meaning of respect is best understood within the respective interaction context. We discuss pathways towards theoretical accounts of respect that are both broadly applicable and situationally specific.

People care a great deal about their social worth in other people’s eyes, and social worth is an important factor in many social scientific theories. At the same time, social worth phenomena are scattered across diverse literatures under different conceptual labels, with little correspondence between them. In the present article, we attempt to integrate social worth research by focusing on three core questions: (1) What is the meaning of social worth in a particular interaction or relationship? (2) How do people evaluate their social worth in the eyes of their partner? and (3) How do people react when they are credited with different forms of social worth? According to the theoretical framework we propose, the particular meaning of social worth depends on a person’s goals for an interaction, and we draw on interdependence theory to map how different situations afford the activation of different goals. To evaluate their social worth in a partner’s eyes, a person judges whether the role they are accorded by the partner satisfies their own interaction goals. This comparison can yield an affirmation, a disconfirmation, or a violation of the person’s social worth expectations. A person’s reactions to these social worth experiences can be understood as attempts to regulate the situation’s interdependence structure following the partner’s feedback. We review social worth-related research from different research areas to show the framework’s wide applicability and integrative potential.

Scientific theories reflect some of humanity's greatest epistemic achievements. The best theories motivate us to search for discoveries, guide us towards successful interventions, and help us to explain and organize knowledge. Such theories require a high degree of specificity, and specifying them requires modeling skills. Unfortunately, in psychological science, theories are often not precise, and psychological scientists often lack the technical skills to formally specify existing theories. This problem raises the question: How can we promote formal theory development in psychology, where there are many content experts but few modelers? In this paper, we discuss one strategy for addressing this issue: a Many Modelers approach. Many Modelers consist of mixed teams of modelers and non-modelers that collaborate to create a formal theory of a phenomenon. We report a proof of concept of this approach, which we piloted as a three-hour hackathon at the SIPS 2021 conference. We find that (a) psychologists who have never developed a formal model can become excited about formal modeling and theorizing; (b) a division of labor in formal theorizing could be possible where only one or a few team members possess the prerequisite modeling expertise; and (c) first working prototypes of a theoretical model can be created in a short period of time.

People care a great deal about their social worth in other people’s eyes and social worth is implicated as an important factor in a host of social scientific theories. At the same time, social worth phenomena are scattered across diverse literatures under different conceptual labels, with little correspondence between them. In the present article, we attempt to integrate social worth research by focusing on three core questions: (1) What is the meaning of social worth in a particular interaction or relationship? (2) How do people evaluate their social worth in the eyes of their partner? And (3) how do people react when they are credited with different forms of social worth? According to the theoretical framework we propose, the particular meaning of social worth depends on a person’s goals for an interaction, and we draw on interdependence theory to map how different situations afford the activation of different goals. To evaluate their social worth in a partner’s eyes, a person judges whether the role they are accorded by the partner satisfies their own interaction goals. This comparison can yield an affirmation, a disconfirmation, or a violation of the person’s social worth expectations. A person’s reactions to these social worth experiences can be understood as attempts to regulate the situation’s interdependence structure following the partner’s feedback. We review social worth-related research from different research areas to show the framework’s wide applicability and integrative potential.