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      Sharing Values as a Foundation for Collective Hope

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          Abstract

          A widespread “tale of terror” amongst those seeking social change is that people in modern Western societies are caught in a neo-liberal paradigm and have come to care most about materialism, individual success and status. Our research attempted to challenge this tale. Study 1 involved New Zealand participants (N = 1085) from largely, but not exclusively, left-leaning groups. We used an open-ended process to identify their “infinite” values (that which they consider of value for its own sake); and found these concerned connection to people and other life forms, expression, nature, personal strengths, vitality, and spirituality. Systems and regulations, success and status, money, ownership and domination were named as of “finite” value (of value because of what they signify or enable). These findings suggest that our participants readily distinguished between what is inherently valuable and what is of instrumental value or signifies social status. Study 2 (N = 121) investigated participants’ responses to a word cloud that displayed the infinite values identified in Study 1. These were predominantly a sense of belonging to a human community, reassurance, and feeling uplifted and hopeful. We suggest that the word cloud offered a “tale of joy” showing that, contrary to standard neo-liberal rhetoric, people do care deeply about the common good. We also suggest that such a tale is critical to social movements that depend on a sense of collective hope.

          Abstract

          Background

          A widespread “tale of terror” amongst those seeking positive social change is that people in Western societies do not care about the common good. Instead they are focused on getting ahead in a world obsessed with money, materialism, individual success and status. We suggest that this tale undermines the sense that social change is possible. If people care only about themselves, then what hope is there for creating a world that puts human and ecological flourishing at its centre?

          Why Was This Study Done?

          Our research attempted to challenge this tale of terror. We hypothesised that people do care deeply for that which promotes the wellbeing of humanity and the ecosystems in which we are embedded. We also hypothesised that when people realise that others care deeply about human and ecological wellbeing, they will experience a “tale of joy”, that gives them hope for the future and makes attempts at social change seem worthwhile.

          What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

          We asked 1,085 New Zealand adults to name their “infinite” values (that which they feel makes the world truly alive and is of value for its own sake). We found these concerned connection to people and other life forms, human expression, nature, personal strengths, vitality, and spirituality. Almost no one offered values related to money, materialism, individual status and success. We then showed 121 New Zealand adults a word cloud that displayed the values we had collected, and asked them to write down the thoughts and feelings they had on seeing it. These were predominantly a sense of belonging to a human community, reassurance, and feeling uplifted and hopeful.

          What Do These Findings Mean?

          We suggest that the infinite values word cloud offered a “tale of joy” showing that people do care deeply about the common good. We also suggest that this tale of joy generated a sense of collective hope in those who saw it. We offer this exercise to anyone interested in igniting and maintaining the collective hope that it is critical to social movements.

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          Most cited references36

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          The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

          A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
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            Having less, giving more: the influence of social class on prosocial behavior.

            Lower social class (or socioeconomic status) is associated with fewer resources, greater exposure to threat, and a reduced sense of personal control. Given these life circumstances, one might expect lower class individuals to engage in less prosocial behavior, prioritizing self-interest over the welfare of others. The authors hypothesized, by contrast, that lower class individuals orient to the welfare of others as a means to adapt to their more hostile environments and that this orientation gives rise to greater prosocial behavior. Across 4 studies, lower class individuals proved to be more generous (Study 1), charitable (Study 2), trusting (Study 3), and helpful (Study 4) compared with their upper class counterparts. Mediator and moderator data showed that lower class individuals acted in a more prosocial fashion because of a greater commitment to egalitarian values and feelings of compassion. Implications for social class, prosocial behavior, and economic inequality are discussed.
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              Are Psychological and Ecological Well-being Compatible? The Role of Values, Mindfulness, and Lifestyle

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                JSPP
                J Soc Polit Psych
                Journal of Social and Political Psychology
                J. Soc. Polit. Psych.
                PsychOpen
                2195-3325
                02 August 2017
                : 5
                : 2
                : 342-366
                Affiliations
                [a ]School of Psychology, The University of Auckland , Auckland, New Zealand
                [b ]Department of Statistics, The University of Auckland , Auckland, New Zealand
                [3]Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
                Author notes
                [* ]School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. n.harre@ 123456auckland.ac.nz
                Article
                jspp.v5i2.742
                10.5964/jspp.v5i2.742
                8828c2ea-3df2-419f-b050-8be618667a44
                Copyright @ 2017

                All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 30 November 2016
                : 19 June 2017
                Categories
                Original Research Reports

                Psychology
                narratives,action research,trust,social movements,collective hope,intrinsic values,instrumental values,values

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