Discrimination without awareness?

The fate of the unattended message in dichotic listening experiments is a much disputed issue. Moray (1969) proposes that there is no processing of the unattended message, whereas Norman (1969) has suggested that it is analyzed to the level of meaning. In order to test these alternative hypotheses an experiment was performed in which galvanic skin responses (GSR) were conditioned to a word (CS) by pairing it with shock. The word was then included in passages of prose presented to subjects as the attended and unattended messages in a dichotic listening task. GSR's were obtained to the occurrence of CS in the unattended message and also to words acoustically similar to CS and to synonyms of CS. The probability of obtaining a GSR to the occurrence of an accoustically similar word was increased by placing that word in a context appropriate to CS. These results suggest that the unattended message can be processed to a level at which semantic information is extracted without the subject's reported awareness.     

When Do Men and Women Make Attributions to Gender Discrimination? The Role of Discrimination Source

Two experiments examined the effects of discrimination source on men’s and women’s willingness to make attributions to a sexist experimenter or sexist rules. Students (161 male; 171 females) at a US university were exposed to a discriminatory person, discriminatory rule, or no discrimination. “Experiment 1” demonstrated individuals were less likely to make attributions to a sexist person than an unfair rule, and women were especially reluctant to indicate a person was responsible for their discrimination even when a person was the source. “Experiment 2” showed participants were less likely to indicate an experimenter, and even a rule, was sexist when there was a cost to the perpetrator (i.e., advisor would be notified of the perpetrator’s actions) for making such attributions.     

Latinx Parents’ Perception of Discrimination and Ethnic/Racial Socialization Predict Their Elementary School Children’s Perceptions of Discrimination

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The present study examined whether Latinx parents’ perceptions of personal discrimination and perception of biases against Latinx people in the United...     

Discrimination of “Four” and “Two” by Pigeons

The Psychological Record - Two pigeons learned to respond to four objects while withholding response to two objects. The birds maintained their numerical discrimination when new objects were...     

When Does Sexuality‐Based Discrimination Motivate Political Participation?

The established consensus in political behavior research is that discrimination by political institutions motivates marginalized groups to vote and protest their conditions. However, existing studies miss a comparison between states with high and low levels of political discrimination, and they miss a comparison between states before and after the development of opportunities for groups to mobilize. In particular, a growing body of research shows that sexual‐minority groups face discrimination to varying degrees across Europe. Sexual minorities in states with high levels of discrimination lack the support of other minority‐group members, which encourages political participation. The analysis is based on surveys of 30 European countries, conducted before and after the 2004 European Union enlargement, which provided a stronger political‐opportunity structure for sexual minorities in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe and Western Europe provided contexts with relatively high and low levels of sexuality‐based discrimination, respectively. In Western Europe, those who report sexuality‐based discrimination exhibited higher levels of participation, in comparison to those who did not report discrimination. In Eastern Europe, those who report sexuality‐based discrimination exhibited lower levels of participation before the 2004 enlargement, but they did not exhibit these lower levels after the 2004 enlargement.     

Discrimination: A Challenge to First‐Person Authority?

It is no surprise that empirical psychology refutes, again and again, assumptions of uneducated common sense. But some puzzlement tends to arise when scientific results appear to call into question the very conceptual framework of the mental to which we have become accustomed. This paper shall examine a case in point: Experiments on colour-discrimination have recently been taken to refute an assumption of first-person authority that appears to be constitutive of our ordinary notion of perceptual experience. The paper is to show that those experiments do not refute this assumption, and will suggest that the impression to the contrary is, ultimately, due to two factors: to misleading imagery and, above all, to mistaken translation from the technical idiom of empirical psychology into the plain English we use every day. This is to take the mystery out of what we shall see to constitute a pretty puzzle; it is to remind us just how careful we need to be when drawing conclusions from results of scientific psychology; and it is to bring out the virtues of methods commonly lumped together under the entirely misleading label of 'ordinary language philosophy', of methods far more useful than their common caricature would make one think.     

African American Children’s Racial Discrimination Experiences and Mental Health

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The current study examined how African American children’s experiences of perceived personal racial discrimination and perceived vicarious racial...     

“Relational” vs. “Specific Stimulus” Learning in Discrimination

The problems of 514 male and female adolescents of 14 and 15 years of age were investigated using an open-ended questionnaire. While there was a high correlation between problem areas for boys and girls, boys reported more problems concerned with educational adjustment and girls more problems concerned with family adjustments. The mean number of reported problems by girls was significantly higher than those reported by boys. It was concluded that the problems of the Sydney adolescent are basically similar to those of adolescents in other Western cultures.     

A Comparison of Error-Correction Procedures Within Audio–Visual Conditional Discrimination Training

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often emit errors during the establishment of conditional discriminations. These children may not respond to more traditional error-correction procedures, such as least-to-most prompting. In this study, we compared two other types of error-correction procedures, namely embedding an identity-matching task as a differential observing response (DOR; Fisher et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 40:489–499, 2007) compared with a second-order fixed ratio 3/fixed ratio 1 (FR3 FR1) schedule with response cost procedure (Fisher et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 47:738–748, 2014). Results garnered from a multiple baseline design with embedded adapted alternating treatment design components demonstrated that the identity-matching/DOR procedure lead to superior acquisition of conditional discriminations for two boys with ASD. These findings suggest that for audio-conditional discrimination training, the identity-matching/DOR method may be more effective over the second-order FR3 FR1 with response cost approach.     

Perceived Everyday Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms: Does Cognitive Style Mediate?

In the hopelessness theory of depression, a causal chain from stressors (e.g., perceived everyday discrimination [PED]) to 5 negative cognitive styles (NCSs) and depressive symptoms is delineated. In a sample of 243 diverse community college students, PED was positively associated with 4 NCSs. Furthermore, 2 specific NCSs were associated with depressive symptoms and mediated the effect between PED and depressive symptoms. Implications for research and practice with individuals who experience PED are discussed.     

Evaluating Gender Discrimination Claims: Is There a Gender Similarity Bias?

A rich literature exists that examines individuals' perceptions of affirmative action in organizations. However, little is known regarding the evaluation of reverse gender discrimination claims arising from gender-based preferential treatment. This study investigated the possible existence of a gender similarity bias in evaluations of gender discrimination allegations using a laboratory experiment in which the strength of evidence against the defendant company and the gender of the plaintiff were manipulated. Our sample consisted of 120 undergraduate students (60 men, 60 women) from diverse racial/ethnic groups (35% Asian, 6% African American, 18% Hispanic, and 41% Caucasian). Results suggested that female mock jurors favored female plaintiffs over male plaintiffs. In contrast, there were no gender-related differences in perceptions of male plaintiffs. Thus, although women did not disadvantage male plaintiffs, there was a tendency for them to be favorably biased in favor of female plaintiffs. As expected, this tendency was greatest under conditions of evidential uncertainty about the company's guilt.     

Are average and symmetric faces attractive to infants? Discrimination and looking preferences

Young infants prefer to look at faces that adults find attractive, suggesting a biological basis for some face preferences. However, the basis for infant preferences is not known. Adults find average and symmetric faces attractive. We examined whether 5-8-month-old infants discriminate between different levels of averageness and symmetry in faces, and whether they prefer to look at faces with higher levels of these traits. Each infant saw 24 pairs of female faces. Each pair consisted of two versions of the same face differing either in averageness (12 pairs) or symmetry (12 pairs). Data from the mothers confirmed that adults preferred the more average and more symmetric versions in each pair. The infants were sensitive to differences in both averageness and symmetry, but showed no looking preference for the more average or more symmetric versions. On the contrary, longest looks were significantly longer for the less average versions, and both longest looks and first looks were marginally longer for the less symmetric versions. Mean looking times were also longer for the less average and less symmetric versions, but those differences were not significant. We suggest that the infant looking behaviour may reflect a novelty preference rather than an aesthetic preference.     

Discrimination and Women’s Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Control

Perceived discrimination is a stressor, related to both negative physical and mental health outcomes. Utilizing a sample of 259 undergraduate females from the northeast region of the U.S., the present study examined a model that tested the direct, indirect, and mediated relations among perceived sexist discrimination, psychological distress, self-esteem, and sense of personal control. Path analysis of the model indicated that (a) perceived sexism was related to greater psychological distress, with personal control partially mediating this link and (b) perceived sexism was not related to self-esteem. The path model accounted for 28% of the variance in self-esteem and 37% of the variance in psychological distress. Implications of the findings for women’s health are discussed.     

The Science and Art of Integrating Psychodrama and Bernard’s Discrimination Model

This article presents the useful technique of Jacob L. Moreno’s psychodrama in counselor education supervision training. This article addresses how psychodrama can be used with student supervisors who are not sure which of Bernard’s discrimination model roles they are using in supervision. Bernard’s model uses three roles that help supervisors function successfully in their relationships with supervisees. Psychodrama may help student supervisors decide what action would be the most appropriate in a given supervision session. Student supervisors may also benefit from psychodrama in processing internal conflict they may experience in their supervisory role. Faculty members training new supervisors may use these techniques to help their student supervisors gain more awareness on how they view their relationships with supervisees.     

Why Doesn't Parental Alienation Occur More Frequently? The Significance of Role Discrimination

Approximately two thirds of divorced families develop co-parenting relationships that are more or less effective. Of the approximately one third of divorces that do not evolve into effective co-parenting, a subset deteriorates into parental alienation. Classical Balance theory predicts parental alienation as a normative outcome in divorcing and divorced families. Discriminating between their roles as spouses and parents allows separated and divorced couples to avoid alienation outcomes. Elevated anxiety, however, may interfere with these discriminative responses, and lead parents into stereotyping each other. This article proposes a two-dimensional model of parental estrangement-alienation addressing variations in anxiety and stereotyping. Interventions for reducing the effects of estrangement and alienation are also identifed and discussed.     

Is the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act Guilty of Disability Discrimination?

South Africa's Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996 implicitly expresses the attitude that the prenatal detection of foetal abnormality justifies selective abortion, even at a stage when abortion is in general morally prohibited. It will be argued that this attitude is logically incompatible with a simultaneous commitment to non-discrimination against persons with disabilities, in that the Act makes allowance for the subjection of beings that are considered to be morally significant, but that exhibit disabling characteristics, to worse treatment than their non-disabled counterparts, despite the fact that this differential treatment is not always justified by the presence of impairment.     

Proactive Responding to Anticipated Discrimination Based on Chronic Illness: Double-Edged Sword?

Purpose

Proactive strategies for avoiding stigmatization may prevent work-related discrimination (Singletary and Hebl J Appl Psychol 94:797–805, 2009), yet these strategies may also cause strain in the stigmatized. We tested a model in which previous workplace discrimination experiences and anticipated future workplace discrimination related to proactive responses (compensatory behaviors and concealing behaviors), which, in turn, related to job tension.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Survey data were obtained from 332 workers with chronic illnesses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships.

Findings

Perceived previous discrimination directly related to anticipated future discrimination and indirectly related to compensatory and concealing behaviors. Anticipated discrimination directly related to compensatory and concealing behaviors, and indirectly related to job tension through compensatory behaviors. Compensatory behaviors were, but concealing behaviors were not, related to job tension.

Implications

Workers with chronic illness should be educated on ways to mitigate the negative effects of compensatory behaviors, including ensuring adequate opportunities to replenish resources. Organizations should provide assistance to these workers through Employee Assistance Programs or other types of job counseling. Organization leaders and supervisors have a responsibility to build an environment of acceptance for those with chronic illness in order to reduce potential discrimination.

Originality/Value

While proactive strategies are effective in reducing negative outcomes of stigmatization, little research has explored their potential downsides. We highlight the “double-edged sword” nature of compensatory behaviors. In addition, while a large proportion of U.S. workers are managing chronic illness, this population is understudied.     

Specificity of Discrimination: Does It Matter From Whence It Comes?1

The negative effects of discrimination on those who are stigmatized are well documented. What is less clear, however, is whether the source of the discrimination has differential outcomes on the person being discriminated against. Survey results from 685 injecting drug users (IDUs) revealed that IDUs who experienced discrimination from healthcare workers had poorer physical health, whereas physical health was unrelated to experiences of discrimination by those outside the healthcare system (family, friends, and partners). In contrast, IDUs' mental health status was less sensitive to the source of discrimination. Discrimination by healthcare workers and by others outside the healthcare industry were both related to IDUs' mental health. Implications and limitations of this research are discussed.     

Perceptions of Rational Discrimination: When Do People Attempt to Justify Race-Based Prejudice?

This research investigated the role of situational context and personality factors in moderating perceptions of race-based decisions made by others. White participants were presented with a short story that described a taxi driver who refuses to pick up a Black man. The primary dependent variable concerned the perceived rationality of the taxi driver's decision. Analyses of these perceptions revealed 2 main findings, both of which involved need for cognition (Cacioppo, Petty, & Morris, 1983). First, need for cognition moderated the effects of participants' attitudes toward Blacks, such that anti-Black participants judged the taxi driver's decision as more rational than did pro-Black participants, but this was only true when participants also scored high in need for cognition. Second, participants who were experimentally induced to think about the task in an "analytical" fashion also judged the taxi driver as relatively rational, but this again was only true for participants who scored high in need for cognition. The implications of these results for a controversial set of arguments regarding rational discrimination by the social critic Dinesh D'Souza (1995) are discussed.     

Can Generalized Self‐Efficacy Overcome the Effects of Workplace Weight Discrimination?

Given that 68% of Americans are overweight or obese, research indicates that weight discrimination occurs in the workplace at each stage of the employment process, from selection to separation. Building from attribution, social exchange, and social cognitive theories, this study explores generalized self‐efficacy (GSE) as a moderator to determine if it alters the relationship between perceived weight discrimination (PWD) and the employee attitudes and behaviors of organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment (OC), job satisfaction (JS), and turnover intentions. Using ANOVA and moderated hierarchical regression to analyze the data, it was determined that GSE moderated the relationship between PWD and both OC and JS. Implications for practitioners and researchers are indicated.