“I'm Not Prejudiced,but . . .”: Compensatory Egalitarianism in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary

The historic 2008 Democratic presidential primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton posed a difficult choice for egalitarian White voters, and many commentators speculated that the election outcome would reflect pitting the effects of racism against sexism ( Steinem, 2008 ). Because self‐reported prejudices may be untrustworthy, we used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess White adults’ (1) condemnation of prejudices, and (2) attitudes toward the candidates in relation to voting decisions, as part of an online survey. Results supported the proposed compensatory egalitarianism process, such that Whites’ voting choice was consistent with their implicit candidate preference, but in an effort to remain egalitarian, participants compensated for this preference by automatically condemning prejudice toward the other candidate's group. Additional findings showed that this process was moderated by participants’ ethnicity and level of prejudice, as expected. Specifically, compensatory egalitarianism occurred primarily among Whites and individuals low in explicit prejudice. Implications for candidate support, aversive racism theory, and implicit compensation processes are discussed.     

But I'm No Bigot: How Prejudiced White Americans Maintain Unprejudiced Self‐Images

Four experiments investigate a modern paradox: White Americans harbor racial prejudice, but view themselves as unprejudiced. We hypothesized that social representations of prejudice available in American culture lead many Whites to conclude that they are relatively unprejudiced. In Experiment 1, participants primed with the bigot stereotype viewed themselves as less prejudiced. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants exposed to media representations of racists viewed themselves as less prejudiced. In Experiment 4, participants sought exposure to media representations of prejudice after a threat to their unprejudiced self‐image. These experiments suggest that representations of prejudice in American culture lead prejudiced individuals to view themselves as unprejudiced, and the effect of these representations on people's unprejudiced self‐images can be passive or intentional.     

Mental rotation: cross-task training and generalization

It is well established that performance on standard mental rotation tasks improves with training (Peters et al., 1995), but thus far there is little consensus regarding the degree of transfer to other tasks which also involve mental rotation. In Experiment 1, we assessed the effect of mental rotation training on participants' Mental Rotation Test (MRT) scores. Twenty-eight participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a "One-Day Training," "Spaced Training," or "No Training" group. Participants who received training achieved higher scores on the MRT, an advantage that was still evident after 1 week. Distribution of training did not affect performance. Experiment 2 assessed generalization of mental rotation training to a more complex mental rotation task, laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgical skills were assessed using Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) tasks. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to a "Full Mental Rotation Training, MRT and FLS," "MRT and FLS," or "FLS-only" group. MRT results from Experiment 1 were replicated and mental rotation training was found to elicit higher scores on the MRT. Further, mental rotation training was found to generalize to certain laparoscopic surgical tasks. Participants who obtained mental rotation training performed significantly better on mental-rotation dependent surgical tasks than participants who did not receive training. Therefore, surgical training programs can use simple computer or paper-based mental rotation training instead of more expensive materials to enhance certain aspects of surgical performance of trainees.     

Relational Theory and Intergenerational Connectedness: A Qualitative Study

Relational theory encourages women to be connected in relationships. The authors used qualitative methodology to explore the interactions of a nonfamilial intergenerational group of 7 female adolescents (13–15 years) and 5 older women (62–80 years) in a structured retreat. Findings indicated that the participants experienced increased connectivity and feminine identity.     

Married Women’s Situational Use of Last Names: An Empirical Study

Situational last name use was examined in a sample of 600 married women who responded to a mail survey. The sample was selected from the faculty and staff of a state university in the Midwest with over-sampling of women whose last name differed from their husband’s last name. Overall, 12% of married women reported situational last name use. Women from all last name choices (e.g., changed to husband’s, kept birth surname) reported situational surname use, but the most common occurrence of this practice was among hyphenators. Situational users were most likely to use their husband’s last name in family situations and their birth surname in professional situations. Factors that increase situational last name use included full-time employment, higher levels of educational attainment, and an older age at marriage. Situational last name use by married women can be seen as a manifestation of ambiguity over identity with family and non-family roles.     

Implicit memory and consumer choice: the mediating role of brand familiarity

Two experiments investigated the influence of implicit memory on consumer choice for brands with varying levels of familiarity. Priming was measured using a consideration‐choice task, developed by Coates, Butler and Berry ( 2004 ). Experiment 1 employed a coupon‐rating task at encoding that required participants to meaningfully process individual brand names, to assess whether priming could affect participants' final (preferred) choices for familiar brands. Experiment 2 used this same method to assess the impact of implicit memory on consideration and choice for unknown and leader brands, presented in conjunction with familiar competitors. Significant priming was obtained in both experiments, and was shown to directly influence final choice in the case of familiar and highly familiar leader brands. Moreover, it was shown that a single prior exposure could lead participants to consider buying an unknown, and indeed fictitious, brand. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How status and stereotypes impact attributions to discrimination: The stereotype-asymmetry hypothesis

Past research suggests a status-asymmetry effect in attributions to discrimination such that people are more likely to make attributions to discrimination when the victim is from a lower status group than the perpetrator as compared to when the victim is from a higher status group than the perpetrator. The present studies test a stereotype-asymmetry effect, such that people are more likely to make attributions to discrimination when rejection occurs in a domain in which the victim is negatively rather than positively stereotyped. In Study 1 (observers) and Study 2 (victims), participants attributed rejection following a job interview to discrimination more when the victim was negatively stereotyped than when the victim was positively stereotyped. The stereotypicality of the domain was more important than the relative status of the victim and the perpetrator in determining judgments of discrimination. Thus stereotype-asymmetry is a key feature of the discrimination prototype.     

When explanations for layoffs are not enough: Employer's integrity as a moderator of the relationship between informational justice and retaliation

Victims of downsizing often perceive their layoff as being unfair, which can lead to various forms of retaliation. Informational justice, defined as providing employees with adequate explanations in a timely manner, has been prescribed as a way to mitigate the retaliation tendencies associated with unfairness perceptions. Few studies, however, have examined contexts in which informational justice might be more vs. less effective in this regard. In the present research, we explored whether employees' perception of the employer's integrity moderates the relationship between informational justice and retaliation among layoff victims. Results from a field and laboratory study suggest that informational justice helps manage retaliation only when layoff victims perceived that their employer had high (vs. low) integrity prior to the layoff. In Study 2, we found that perceived sincerity mediated the impact of informational justice by integrity interaction on retaliation.     

Maternal Antisocial Behavior, Parenting Practices, and Behavior Problems in Boys at Risk for Antisocial Behavior

We investigated the independent contributions of maternal history of antisocial behavior and parenting practices to the worsening course of sons' behavior problems in a sample of young urban boys at risk for antisocial behavior. Mothers reported on boys' behavior problems at baseline and one year later, as well as on their own history of antisocial behavior before and after age 15, and of lifetime depression and substance use disorders (provisional DSM-III-R diagnoses). Baseline reports of parenting practices were obtained. Lower involvement, lower monitoring, and higher levels of parent–child conflict and maternal Conduct Disorder (CD) before age 15 contributed to the worsening of boys' behavior problems one year later; mothers' symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder after age 15 did not. Mothers' lifetime history of Major Depression and Substance Use Disorder did not add to the worsening of boys' behavior problems after accounting for these other factors. Although maternal CD contributed directly to the worsening of boys' behavior problems, the effect of parenting was more substantial. We discuss clinical implications for prevention and treatment of children's antisocial behavior, and intergenerational implications of girls' early antisocial behavior.