How lay theories of prejudice shape prejudice confrontations: Examining beliefs about prejudice prevalence,origins, and controllability

The formative framework in prejudice confrontations research has focused on the utility of confrontations to activate one's self-regulation strategies to interrupt unintentional prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping. As this framework remains dominant in the literature, little research has examined everyday people's theories about prejudice that diverge from this framework and accounted for these theories in investigating confrontation rates and outcomes. In this paper, we review key lay theories of prejudice and discuss the ways in which they may influence prejudice confrontations. First, we summarize lay theories regarding the prevalence, origins, and controllability of prejudice. Next, we consider how lay theories of prejudice may factor into the circumstances under which people confront prejudice, goals that people may hold when confronting, and outcomes of confronting for confronters and perpetrators. Throughout, we highlight fundamental research questions and hypotheses that integrate lay theories of prejudice and prejudice confrontations. We propose that better understanding lay theories of prejudice and how they influence prejudice confrontations may help to advance translational and theoretical research in social psychology.     

Effects of sex of defense attorney,sex of juror,and age and attractiveness of the victim on mock juror decision making in a rape case

In an experimental study, mock jurors heard a 50-minute audiotape of a rape trial and saw pictures of the victim and defendant. The factors in the design were sex of the defense attorney, age of the victim (early 20s or 60s), attractiveness of the victim, and sex of the juror. The most striking finding was a higher acquittal rate under the female defense attorney condition (71%) than under the male defense attorney condition (49%). This may be an instance of the recently described “talking platypus” phenomenon. Main effects for juror's sex, age of the victim, and attractiveness of the victim were not significant, but these factors showed complex interactions. Internal-external scores did not predict decisions. The most frequent reasons given for acquittals were reasonable doubt and the victim's not resisting.     

Child Delinquents: Examining the Market for Criminal Futures

This article investigates child delinquency (offenders younger than 13 years of age). The population of child delinquents under various dispositions in the state of Louisiana, at one point in time, is described. Eighty youth are examined using the following characteristics: Race, Gender, Age, Offense Type (violent, nonviolent) Crime Category (felony, status offense, misdemeanor, and felony or misdemeanor) and Disposition (supervision, secure custody, and non-secure custody). Child delinquency is an important topic because the younger the age of first offense the greater the probability of a delinquent and criminal career. Findings reveal very few youth in secure custody and black males account for over half of the population of child delinquents. Over 75% of the population was 12 years of age.     

Entitativity and prejudice: Examining their relationship and the moderating effect of attitude certainty

Previous research suggests that perceived entitativity, which represents the degree to which groups are perceived to possess unity, coherence, and organization, predicts intergroup stereotyping and bias. The present research yielded complementary evidence that prejudice (toward Muslims in Study 1 and toward South Asians in Study 2) can also predict groups’ perceived entitativity. In particular, Study 1 found that the relationships of two predictors, intergroup contact and social dominance orientation, with perceived entitativity were mediated by prejudice. Study 2 demonstrated, as predicted, that this set of relationships occurred primarily for intergroup attitudes of relatively high certainty. Neither study found support for models in which entitativity mediated the relationships of the predictors with prejudice. Conceptual and analytical factors that may account for evidence of the potential bi-directionality of the bias-entitativity relationship are considered.     

对抗偏见:作为偏见消减策略的社会行为

对抗偏见是偏见对象或旁观者对偏见持有者表示不满的社会行为,能够降低偏见持有者的偏见水平,并有助于形成反偏见的社会规范,是一种有效的偏见消减策略。对抗偏见领域的研究可分为对抗偏见效果研究与对抗偏见行为研究。前者主要采用材料型和实验型研究范式,关注对抗偏见的作用机制、具体效果及对抗偏见效果的影响因素;后者主要采用回顾型、实时记录型和前瞻型研究范式,关注对抗偏见行为的发生机制和影响因素。将来这一领域需注重研究范式的综合使用及生态效度的提高,以促进对抗偏见效果研究与对抗偏见行为研究的有机结合;并在对抗偏见的神经机制和有效策略方面进一步深入探索。     

Gender Differences in Criminal Intent: Examining the Mediating Influence of Anticipated Shaming

Research finds males to have a higher likelihood of offending than females. Dominant explanations of the gender/crime relationship tend to invoke strain, learning, and control theories, but we propose that part of the relationship is attributable to differences in anticipated shaming. We test this argument using data collected from a sample of 439 young adults. Results of both Tobit regressions and path analyses support our hypothesis, suggesting that anticipated shaming may actually mediate more of the gender/crime relationship than do variables derived from alternative perspectives. Implications for understanding and controlling crime are discussed.     

Reasoning about scientific evidence: effects of juror gender and evidence quality on juror decisions in a hostile work environment case.

This study examined whether participants were sensitive to variations in the quality of an experiment discussed by an expert witness and whether they used heuristic cues when evaluating the expert evidence. In the context of a hostile work environment case, different versions of the expert testimony varied the presence of heuristic cues (i.e., whether the expert's research was generally accepted or ecologically valid) and evidence quality (i.e., the construct validity of the expert's research). Men who heard expert testimony were more likely to find that the plaintiff's workplace was hostile than were men who did not hear the expert testimony; expert testimony did not influence women's liability judgments. Heuristic cues influenced participant evaluations of the expert testimony validity, but evidence quality did not. Cross-examination did not increase juror sensitivity to evidence quality. Implications for science in the legal system are discussed.     

Structural behavioural analysis as a basis for discriminating between genuine and simulated rape allegations

This paper explores the potential utility of structural behavioural analysis as a basis for discriminating between genuine and simulated accounts of rape. Structural analysis examines the coherence of the combination of behaviours in the account based against the co‐occurrence of behaviours in genuine accounts. Three analyses compared 142 genuine rape with 30 simulated statements in terms of the base rates of behaviours reported within the statements, and in terms of the behavioural coherence of each statement to an established behavioural structure. Results suggest that genuine statements tend to report a larger total number of behaviours than simulated statements; that pseudo‐intimate behaviours are significantly more often reported in genuine statements while some violent behaviours are more frequently reported in simulated statements; and that simulated statements are less behaviourally coherent than genuine statements. We concede the many limitations of the study but argue that results provide tentative evidence that false claimants, not fully appreciating the phenomenological experience of rape, overemphasise the significance of violent and demeaning behaviour whilst underplaying the significance of pseudo‐intimate behaviour. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining the role of psychological inflexibility,perspective taking,and empathic concern in generalized prejudice

Research to‐date on generalized prejudice has focused primarily on personality factors. Further work is needed identifying manipulable variables that directly inform antiprejudice interventions. This study examined three such variables: empathic concern, perspective taking, and psychological inflexibility/flexibility with prejudiced thoughts, as a test of the flexible connectedness model. A sample of 604 undergraduate students completed online surveys. A model indicated prejudice measures loaded onto a latent variable of generalized prejudice. In a second model, psychological inflexibility, flexibility, empathic concern, and perspective taking were all significant, independent predictors of generalized prejudice. Psychological inflexibility also predicted prejudice above and beyond personality and general inflexibility variables. Results suggest the three components of the flexible connectedness model may be important targets for prejudice interventions.     

Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Criminal Activity: Examining Patterns Over Time

This study examined whether street homelessness, sheltered homelessness, and the severity of psychological symptoms predicted non-violent and violent crime among 207 mentally ill participants who were homeless at baseline. Participants were interviewed at 9 time points over 4 years. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine whether changes in homelessness status and symptom severity predicted changes in criminal activity over time. Results indicated that homelessness both on the streets and in shelters and psychological symptom severity predicted increases in non-violent crime. Sheltered homelessness and symptom severity predicted increases in violent crime, although street homelessness did not. A separate mediational analysis with 181 participants showed that the relationship between diagnosis of a psychotic disorder and both non-violent and violent criminal activity was partially mediated through the severity of psychotic symptoms. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.     

Plea bargaining recommendations by criminal defense attorneys: evidence strength, potential sentence, and defendant preference

Although most criminal cases are disposed of through the process of plea bargaining, little research has focused on this process, and that research has focused on two variables: probability of conviction and potential sentence. This study examined the plea bargaining process from the perspective of the criminal defense attorney and expands prior research by including a third variable: defendant preference regarding plea. Attorney participants (N = 186) responded to a survey containing a vignette presented in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design, in which there was systematic manipulation of the following three variables in the context of criminal litigation: likelihood of conviction based on the strength of evidence, defendant preference regarding plea, and potential sentence if convicted. All of these variables were considered important to criminal defense attorneys, and how these variables significantly interacted with each other is explained. We discuss these findings in light of past research and theory that suggested attorneys make plea recommendations according only to probability of conviction and potential sentence, and we discuss implications and directions for future research.     

Stereotypes and prejudice in the blood: Sucrose drinks reduce prejudice and stereotyping

Prejudice and stereotyping cause social problems and intergroup tension. The current work examined whether bolstering self-control by giving participants glucose would reduce stereotype use for an impression formation task. Previous work has demonstrated that self-control depends on biologically expensive brain processes that consume energy derived from glucose in the bloodstream. In the current study, glucose was manipulated via lemonade sweetened with either sugar or Splenda. Compared to the control group, the participants in the glucose condition used fewer stereotypes when writing an essay about a day in the life of a gay man. In addition, high-prejudice participants in the glucose condition used fewer derogatory statements in their essays than high-prejudice participants in the control condition. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of self-control resources in the effective regulation of prejudice and stereotyping.     

Personality and prejudice: a meta-analysis and theoretical review

Despite a substantial literature examining personality, prejudice, and related constructs such as Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), there have been no systematic reviews in this area. The authors reviewed and meta-analyzed 71 studies (N = 22,068 participants) investigating relationships between Big Five dimensions of personality, RWA, SDO, and prejudice. RWA was predicted by low Openness to Experience but also Conscientiousness, whereas SDO was predicted by low Agreeableness and also weakly by low Openness to Experience. Consistent with a dual-process motivational model of ideology and prejudice, the effects of Agreeableness on prejudice were fully mediated by SDO, and those of Openness to Experience were largely mediated by RWA. Finally, the effects of Agreeableness and Openness to Experience were robust and consistent across samples, although subtle moderating factors were identified, including differences in personality inventory (NEO Personality Inventory-Revised vs. Big Five Inventory), differences across prejudice domain, and cross-cultural differences in Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. Implications for the study of personality and prejudice are discussed.     

Erratum: Effects of pre‐trial publicity and jury deliberation on juror bias and source memory errors

Effects of Pre‐Trial Publicity and Jury Deliberation on Juror Bias and Source Memory Errors. By Christine Ruva, Cathy McEvoy and Judith Becker Bryant. The above article (DOI:10.1002/acp.1254) was published online in Early View on 21 June 2006. An error has subsequently been identified in this article. The mediation analyses for the critical SM errors mistakenly reported that the Sobel test z was not significant when in fact it was, Sobel test z = 2.17 (1982). Therefore, critical SM errors were found to mediate the effect of PTP on guilt ratings suggesting that these errors may be a mechanism through which PTP imparts its biasing effects on juror decision making.