Three studies analyzed spatial orientation of portraits (Study 1, N = 359 and Study 2, N = 961) and self-portraits (Study 3, N = 362). Besides replicating a number of previous findings (a general left-ward orientation in portraits but right-ward orientation in self-portraits), we report a number of new results: (1) compared to men, women painters show no gender bias in portraits, and show no rightward orientation in self-portraits; (2) gender differences decline over time and disappear entirely after the 1848 social movements in Europe; and, (3) old and young sitters are portrayed with a stronger leftward orientation than sitters of the intermediate age group (supported only in Study 1). Results are interpreted as supporting Chatterjee's (2002) agency hypothesis.

Taxation is one of the most widely acknowledged strategies to reduce inequality, particularly if based on progressivity. In a high‐powered sample study ( N = 2119) we investigated economic inequality and conspiracy beliefs as two key predictors of tax attitude and support for progressive taxation. We found that participants in the high economic inequality condition had lower levels of tax compliance and higher levels of conspiracy beliefs and support for progressive taxation. Furthermore, the effect of the experimental condition on tax compliance was mediated by conspiracy beliefs. Finally, conspiracy belief scores were positively associated with support for progressive taxation. Our results provide evidence that attitudes towards taxation are not monolithic but change considering the aims and targets of specific taxes. Indeed, while the perception of economic inequality prompts the desire for equal redistribution, it also fosters conspiracy narratives that undermine compliance with taxes.

Everyday actions such as writing have been proven to produce consistent mental schemata, which are used to represent social interactions. The preference for depicting the agent of an action to the left of the recipient is known as the spatial agency bias (SAB) and has been related to writing direction. The question which we addressed through two studies is whether the mental construal level (CL) affects this embodied bias. We hypothesized that high-CL (vs. low-CL) priming increases the SAB, as it promotes the use of an abstract mental schema to represent the situation. We found that, when asked to depict two interacting targets, participants in a high-CL condition were more likely to adopt a left-to-right representation (Studies 1 and 2). In contrast, under low-CL, participants were more likely to follow the trajectory suggested by contextual details (Study 2). These findings shed light on boundary conditions for the SAB.