Passion for a Cause: How It Affects Health and Subjective Well-Being

"Consumed by creed": Obsessive-compulsive symptoms underpin ideological obsession and support for political violence

Radicalization is a process by which individuals are introduced to an ideological belief system that encourages political, religious, or social change through the use of violence. Here we formulate an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) model of radicalization that links obsessive passion (OP; one of the best predictors of radical intentions) to a larger body of clinical research. The model's central tenet is that individual differences in OCD symptom severity could shape radical intentions via their influence on OP. Across four ideological samples in the United States (Environmental activists, Republicans, Democrats, and Muslims, Ntotal  = 1114), we found direct effects between OCD symptom severity and radical intentions, as well as indirect effects of OCD on radical intentions via OP. Even after controlling for potential individual difference and clinical confounds (e.g., adverse childhood experiences, loss of significance, and substance abuse), these relationships remained robust, implying that OCD plays a significant role in the formation of violent ideological intentions and opening new avenues for the treatment and prevention of violent extremism. We discuss the implications of conceptualizing radicalization as an OCD-like disorder with compulsive violent tendencies and ideology-related concerns.

Changes in basic psychological needs, passion, and well-being of first-semester graduate students

OBJECTIVE

Examine changes in graduate student health and well-being in the first semester.

PARTICIPANTS

Full-time, first-semester graduate students (N = 74) from a midsized midwestern university.

METHOD

Graduate students were surveyed prior to starting their master's program and 10 weeks later. Passion for academics, basic psychological needs, physical and mental health symptoms, positive and negative affects, and quality of life were assessed.

RESULTS

Need satisfaction, harmonious passion, and indicators of well-being decreased across the first semester, whereas need frustration and indicators of ill-being increased over the first semester. Obsessive passion, harmonious passion, need satisfaction, and need frustration were associated with students' well-being at the end of the semester, with need frustration being the most robust predictor.

CONCLUSIONS

Although most graduate students reported good general health and moderately low mental health symptoms, findings suggest that a need supportive environment may contribute to better health and well-being.

Disconnected Out of Passion: Relationship Between Social Alienation and Obsessive Passion

Violent radicalization continues to be a global problem. One of the main proposals for understanding radicalization and support for political violence is based on social alienation as a trigger. That is, individuals who feel alienated from society try to get out of this situation by using violence, if necessary. However, social alienation alone is not enough to explain radicalization. Therefore, we propose that social alienation interacts with other factors to foster radicalization. Particularly, we propose that obsessive passion, an internal compulsion that leads a person to engage in an activity even when they should not, is one of the interacting factors. Following previous literature, we hypothesized that higher social alienation predicts support for political violence to a greater extent the higher the obsessive passion. To test this hypothesis, we performed two studies in which the cause of passion varied (religion: N = 652 and family: N = 873). Both studies assessed social alienation, harmonious and obsessive passion, and support for political violence. The results showed a significant increase in the effect of social alienation on support for political violence when obsessive passion was higher, even controlling by harmonious passion. These results highlight the importance of considering other variables related to social alienation that could facilitate radicalization processes, particularly maintaining an obsessive passion for a cause when one feels a social disconnection. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed given their contributions to prevention based on work on feelings of social disconnection and harmonization of causes.

Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study

A majority of the workforce in the humanitarian aid consists of volunteers who partly suffer from health problems related to their voluntary service. To date, only a fraction of the current research focuses on this population. The aim of this qualitative explorative study was to identify burdening and protective organisational factors for health and well-being among humanitarian aid volunteers in a Greek refugee camp. To this end, interviews with 22 volunteers were held on site and afterwards analysed by using qualitative content analysis. We focused on international volunteers working in Greece that worked in the provision of food, material goods, emotional support and recreational opportunities. We identified burdening factors, as well as protective factors, in the areas of work procedures, team interactions, organisational support and living arrangements. Gender-specific disadvantages contribute to burdening factors, while joyful experiences are only addressed as protective factors. Additionally, gender-specific aspects in the experience of team interactions and support systems were identified. According to our findings, several possibilities for organisations to protect health and well-being of their volunteers exist. Organisations could adapt organisational structures to the needs of their volunteers and consider gender-specific factors.

Ideological passion and violent activism: The moderating role of the significance quest

This research examines how the relationship between passion for an ideology and violent activism is magnified by the personal (vs. collective) loss of significance. In Study 1 (N = 238), the relationship between obsessive (but not harmonious) passion for the Republican Party and violent activism was moderated by personal (but not collective) loss of significance. Study 2 (N = 612) replicated these findings with an experimental manipulation of personal and collective loss of significance in a sample of Black Lives Matter supporters. In Study 3 (N = 416), we set out to attenuate the obsessive passion-violent activism relationship by experimentally manipulating personal and collective significance gain. Echoing the results of Studies 1 and 2, the manipulation of personal (but not collective) significance gain reduced the relationship between obsessive passion for the environmental cause and violent activism. Furthermore, Study 3 examined the psychological mechanism at play by incorporating a measure of goal-shielding - a factor of theoretical relevance to explain extreme behaviour. Personal significance gain reduced individuals' proclivity to inhibit goals unrelated to their ideological pursuit, which in turn reduced their support for violent activism. These findings reveal psychological factors relevant to detecting at-risk individuals and implementing cost-effective prevention programmes against ideological violence.

Does work passion benefit or hinder employee’s career commitment? The mediating role of work–family interface and the moderating role of autonomy support

Based on the dualistic model of passion, this study explored the relationship between distinct types of work passion and career commitment, as well as the mediating role of work–family interface and the moderating role of autonomy support. A two-wave study was conducted among South Korean workers (N = 250) over a 5-month time period. Results showed that harmonious work passion was positively associated with career commitment, whereas obsessive work passion was not significantly associated with career commitment. Moreover, work–family enrichment partially mediated the positive effect of harmonious work passion on career commitment, and work–family conflict fully mediated the negative effect of obsessive work passion on career commitment. Results further indicated that autonomy support strengthens the positive effect of harmonious work passion on work–family enrichment. Furthermore, this study expanded the understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms of effects of work passion. The implications and limitations of the study and potential topics for future research are discussed.

Marie Curie vs. Serena Williams: ambition leads to extremism through obsessive (but not harmonious) passion

Extremism occurs when a certain need, for instance, significance quest, overrides other human motivations. Based on the Significance Quest Theory, we argue that ambition—a specific aspect of significance quest—can lead to extremism, particularly through obsessive passion. In an Italian sample (Study 1, N = 249) we predicted and found that ambition was positively related to both obsessive and harmonious passion; however, only obsessive passion positively predicted extremism. To bolster and generalize our findings we conducted a second study involving American participants (Study 2, N = 300). We confirmed the mediating role of obsessive passion in the relationship between ambition and extremism, while we did not find the mediating role of harmonious passion. The present research has theoretical implications in that it constitutes the first evidence that ambition might share some aspects with significance quest and sheds new light on ambition field. Moreover, our findings provide practical ways to prevent extremism.

The Influence of Spiritual Leadership on Harmonious Passion: A Case Study of the Hotel Industry in China

The hotel manager has the responsibility to stimulate the passion of the staff. The vision, hope/faith, and altruistic love advocated by spiritual leaders can meet the independent psychological needs of employees, thus enhancing their harmonious passion. This study is based on self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation theory and psychological capital theory, and explores the relationship between spiritual leadership and employees’ harmonious passion. This study uses 260 employees of star hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei, Huangshan, and other cities in China. Results show that spiritual leadership positively impacts employees’ harmonious passion, and calling plays an mediation role between spiritual leadership and employees’ harmonious passion. The results are helpful to clarify the formation mechanism of employees’ harmonious passion from the perspective of self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation theory and psychological capital theory and show that spiritual leadership can drive employees’ harmonious passion, especially when hotel vision and employee calling are consistent. Furthermore, the altruistic love of spiritual leaders for their followers also plays a key role in employee calling and promoting harmonious passion. Therefore, this study also emphasizes the importance of calling in improving the harmonious passion of employees. The theoretical and management implications that help to enhance the harmonious passion of employees are discussed in detail.

How Does Dualistic Passion Fuel Academic Thriving? A Joint Moderated-Mediating Model

Based on the dualistic model of passion, this study developed a joint moderated–mediating model to investigate the mechanism of dualistic passion on academic thriving. We surveyed 960 Chinese university students with a questionnaire. The results showed that harmonious and obsessive passion positively predicted academic thriving, with the effect of harmonious passion being stronger. Academic personal best goal mediated these relationships. Moreover, threat stress appraisal and academic workload jointly moderated the direct effects of harmonious passion on academic personal best goal and obsessive passion on academic personal best goal, and the first stage of the mediating effects of academic personal best goal between harmonious passion and academic thriving as well as obsessive passion and academic thriving. Specifically, for low–threat stress appraisal and academic workload, the direct effect of harmonious passion on academic personal best goal and the mediating effect of academic personal best goal were stronger. Meanwhile, for high–threat stress appraisal and academic workload, the same applied for obsessive passion. These findings provide important implications for educational practice by highlighting an underlying mechanism of how and when dualistic passion, particularly for obsessive passion, can initiate and maintain academic thriving.

The sociocognitive processes of ideological obsession: review and policy implications

Understanding what motivates people to join violent ideological groups and engage in acts of cruelty against others is of great social and societal importance. In this paper, I posit that one necessary element is ‘ideological obsession’—an ideological commitment fuelled by unmet psychological needs and regulated by inhibitory and ego-defensive mechanisms. Drawing from evidence collected across cultures and ideologies, I describe four processes through which ideological obsession puts individuals on a path towards violence. First, ideological obsession deactivates moral self-regulatory processes, allowing unethical behaviours to be carried out without self-recrimination. Second, ideologically obsessed individuals are easily threatened by information that criticises their ideology, which in turn leads to hatred and violent retaliation. Third, ideological obsession changes people's social interactions by making them gravitate towards like-minded individuals who support ideological violence. As these social networks become more interconnected, they amplify one's adherence to violent extremism. Finally, ideologically obsessed individuals are prone to psychological reactance, making them immune to communication strategies intended to dissuade them from using violence. In fact, messages espousing non-violence can have the opposite effect by reinforcing their violence-supporting ideology. I conclude by presenting evidence-based strategies to prevent radicalisation leading to violence for individuals in pre-criminal spaces.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms’.

Passion for an activity: a new predictor of sleep quality

STUDY OBJECTIVES

The present research examines the relationship between people's frequent involvement in an activity they like and find important (i.e., a passion) and the quality of their sleep. Research on the dualistic model of passion has widely documented the relationship between individuals' type of passion-harmonious versus obsessive-and the quality of their mental and physical health. However, research has yet to examine the relationship between passion and sleep quality. Building on prior research has shown that obsessive (vs harmonious) passion is related to depressive mood symptoms-an important factor associated with sleep problems-we hypothesized that obsessive passion would be associated with overall worse sleep quality, whereas harmonious passion would predict better sleep quality.

METHODS

A sample of 1,506 Americans filled out an online questionnaire on sleep habits and passion. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Hierarchical linear regressions and mediation analyses were carried out with results confirming our hypotheses.

RESULTS

Obsessive passion for an activity was associated with worse sleep quality, whereas harmonious passion was associated with better sleep quality, adjusting for demographics, the type of passionate activity and its self-reported importance, alcohol and tobacco consumption, BMI, self-reported health, and diagnosed health conditions. The relationship between both types of passion and sleep quality was mediated by depressive mood symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study presents evidence of a strong relationship between sleep quality and passion, opening the door for future research to create new interventions to improve people's sleep and, consequently, their well-being.

Body Breakdowns as Politics: Identity regulation in a high-commitment activist organization

Recent studies on identity regulation emphasize the significance of the body in mediating individuals’ responses to cultural control within organizations. However, little is known about how such responses are concretely enacted by individuals through their bodies. Based on an ethnography of an activist organization, this study discusses the culture of self-sacrifice through which activists’ identity is regulated. It reveals the everyday tensions between passionate commitment and vulnerable bodies, exploring how body breakdowns lead activists to separate their passion for a cause from the organizational culture and ultimately make their exit. We thus aim to contribute to research on identity regulation by highlighting the precariousness of this process and demonstrating the political potential of bodies to resist controlling regimes. We interpret breakdowns as political events emerging at the interface between the docile enactment of a bodily norm and its concrete physical violence.

Passion and moral disengagement: Different pathways to political activism

OBJECTIVE

Four studies examined the relationship between motivational imbalance-the degree to which a goal dominates other goals-and political activism.

METHOD

Based on the dualistic model of passion (Vallerand, 2015) and recent theorizing on violent extremism (Kruglanski, Jasko, Chernikova, Dugas, & Webber, 2017), we predicted that obsessive passion (OP), which facilitates alternative goal suppression, would increase support for violent political behaviors. In contrast, we predicted that harmonious passion (HP), which facilitates the integration of multiple goal pursuits, would increase support for peaceful political behaviors.

RESULTS

Study 1a demonstrated that OP for environmentalism was positively associated with moral disengagement, which in turn predicted violent behaviors. HP was positively associated with peaceful behaviors. Political activism among Democrats yielded similar findings in Study 1b. Study 2 replicated Studies 1a-1b using an implicit measure of moral disengagement. Study 3 replicated Studies 1-2 by demonstrating that experimentally inducing a harmonious (vs. obsessive) passion mindset indirectly reduced violent behaviors through the attenuation of moral disengagement while directly promoting peaceful behaviors. Study 4 conceptually replicated Studies 1-3 by experimentally manipulating moral disengagement.

CONCLUSIONS

These results offer insights into the workings of radicalization and suggest theory-driven methods of reducing political violence.

How passionate individuals regulate their activity with other life domains: A goal-systemic perspective

OBJECTIVE

People that pursue a passionate activity obsessively (vs. harmoniously) tend to neglect (vs. integrate) other important life domains, yet research has been silent on the psychological mechanism explaining these differences in self-regulation. The purpose of this research was to address this gap by testing the role of alternative goal suppression.

METHOD

Four studies tested whether harmonious passion is characterized by the pursuit of multifinality, the preference for means that gratify multiple goals simultaneously, whereas obsessive passion is characterized by the pursuit of counterfinality, the preference for means that serves a focal goal to the detriment of other pursuits. Underlying this relationship is the tendency to suppress goals conflicting with one's passion.

RESULTS

Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it by demonstrating that the relationship between obsessive passion and counterfinal means is mediated by alternative goal suppression. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating alternative goal suppression, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on means evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, the present results demonstrate that passion plays a significant role in the type of means-ends relations preferred for goal pursuits.

How do passion for video games and needs frustration explain time spent gaming?

Research applying self-determination theory and the dualistic model of passion (DMP) has shown video games may satisfy basic psychological needs (i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and be identified as a passion. The DMP distinguishes between healthy or harmonious passion and problematic or obsessive passion (OP), with the latter reflecting an overreliance towards one's passion to obtain needs satisfaction. The experience of daily obstructions to needs satisfaction, or needs frustration (NF), may facilitate such an overreliance. This study explored how NF and both types of passion explain the amount of time that university students spend gaming. The overall association between NF and time spent gaming was not significant. However, for video game users with low levels of OP for gaming, there was a significant negative association between NF and time spent gaming. Additionally, evidence of a mutually reinforcing association between NF and OP for gaming indicates that a vicious cycle exists, whereby a strong OP for gaming predicts and is reinforced by greater NF. The theoretical implications are discussed.

Volunteer Work, Religious Commitment, and Resting Pulse Rates

Research indicates that greater involvement in volunteer activities is associated with better health. We aim to contribute to this literature in two ways. First, rather than rely on self-reports of health, measured resting pulse rates serve as the dependent variable. Second, an effort is made to see if religious commitment moderates the relationship between volunteering and resting pulse rates. Data that come from a recent nationwide survey (N = 2265) suggest that volunteer work is associated with lower resting pulse rates. The results also reveal that the relationship between engaging in volunteer work and resting pulse rates improves among study participants who are more deeply committed to religion.