Functions of attitudes towards ethnic groups: Effects of level of abstraction

A direct measure of attitude function was used to examine symbolic and instrumental elements of racial attitudes as a function of level of abstraction. Two studies were conducted in different countries, in which participants explained their thoughts and feelings concerning a specific (e.g., “Indians” or “Chinese”) or abstract (e.g., “Ethnic Minorities”) attitude object, and then rated the importance of each thought or feeling. A coding scheme was used to record the attitude function represented by each thought or feeling. In both studies, symbolic functions were more present for the abstract target than the specific targets. These differences have important implications for interventions and theories that address prejudice. They also provide evidence that functions of attitudes towards broader social groups cannot be regarded as the central tendency of functions toward subgroups, which is an important potential caveat to theories of social categorization.     

A brief diversity training: Raising awareness of ingroup privilege to improve attitudes towards disadvantaged outgroups

Diversity training is a popular strategy to reduce prejudice within educational settings. However, in practice, diversity training rarely relies on social-psychological theory, and research on its effectiveness in real-world settings is scarce. Previous research regarding diversity training has particularly neglected an important theoretical concept: privilege as the counterpart of discrimination. Therefore, we developed a diversity training aiming to increase awareness of ingroup privilege, using an intersectional approach to teach participants the complex interaction between privilege and oppression. We randomly allocated students of educational science (N = 112) to a repeated-measures (pre-test, post-test, follow-up) control-group design. Compared with the control group, training participants showed a significant increase in awareness of ingroup privilege 1 week after the training, whereas there was no change in awareness of discrimination. Furthermore, increased awareness of ingroup privilege 1 week after the training mediated improved outgroup attitudes (i.e., more positive outgroup feelings towards immigrants and refugees, reduced subtle prejudice towards immigrants and reduced homonegativity) 2 weeks after the training.     

Positive and negative behavioural intentions towards immigrants: A question of ethnic categorisation or worldview conflict?

Anti-immigrant attitudes are often explained in terms of ethnic boundaries in which a categorical distinction between the ethnic ingroup and immigrant outgroup is made. However, these attitudes might also result from contrasting cultural worldviews. We examined the importance of ethnic categorisation and perceived cultural worldview difference in explaining behavioural intentions towards immigrants. Using an experimental survey design with a national sample of ethnic Dutch respondents (N = 832), we studied two positive and two negative behavioural intentions towards either immigrants with a contrasting cultural worldview or co-ethnics with such as worldview. Our findings indicate similar behavioural intentions towards both target groups. Furthermore, except for “the intention to learn” there were no differences in behavioural intentions towards both target groups for respondents with lower and higher authoritarian dispositions. Overall, this pattern of findings is theoretically most in line with a worldview conflict perspective rather than an ethnic boundary perspective.     

A social neuroscience approach to self and social categorisation: A new look at an old issue

We take a social neuroscience approach to self and social categorisation in which the current self-categorisation(s) is constructed from relatively stable identity representations stored in memory (such as the significance of one's social identity) through iterative and interactive perceptual and evaluative processing. This approach describes these processes across multiple levels of analysis, linking the effects of self-categorisation and social identity on perception and evaluation to brain function. We review several studies showing that self-categorisation with an arbitrary group can override the effects of more visually salient, cross-cutting social categories on social perception and evaluation. The top-down influence of self-categorisation represents a powerful antecedent-focused strategy for suppressing racial bias without many of the limitations of a more response-focused strategy. Finally we discuss the implications of this approach for our understanding of social perception and evaluation and the neural substrates of these processes.     

Improving intergroup attitudes and reducing stereotype threat: An integrated contact model

In this chapter we develop an intergroup contact model of stereotype threat effects. We review research on improving intergroup relations and reducing stereotype threat. We then propose an integrated model that specifies the processes through which both actual and imagined intergroup contact reduce the impact of stereotypes on behaviour. We discuss support for this model and, drawing on social identity theory, how changing intergroup relations produces interrelated effects on perceptions of the self, ingroup, and outgroup. This review documents an emerging, wider range of benefits that accrue from intergroup contact. It illustrates how such interventions not only challenge prejudiced attitudes, but can also free individuals from the negative impact of stereotypes in a range of other domains. Finally we discuss the practical benefits of taking this integrated perspective and outline an agenda for future work.     

Stereotypes and stereotyping: What's the brain got to do with it?

Influential social-psychological models suggest that perceivers frequently use information-processing strategies that result in the stereotype-based construal and treatment of other people. To elucidate in greater detail when, why, and how social encounters elicit stereotyping, researchers have begun to incorporate neuroscientific tools into their repertoire of investigative methods. The current article reviews these studies and considers their significance in light of existing theories of person perception, knowledge representation, and impression formation. Finally, using the concrete example of stereotyping, benefits and pitfalls of adopting a social neuroscience approach are discussed.     

Subtle priming of shared human experiences eliminates threat-induced negativity toward Arabs, immigrants, and peace-making

Many studies demonstrate that mortality salience can increase negativity toward outgroups but few have examined variables that mitigate this effect. The present research examined whether subtly priming people to think of human experiences shared by people from diverse cultures increases perceived similarity of members of different groups, which then reduces MS-induced negativity toward outgroups. In Study 1, exposure to pictures of people from diverse cultures engaged in common human activities non-significantly reversed the effect of MS on implicit anti-Arab prejudice. In Study 2, thinking about similarities between one's own favorite childhood memories and those of people from other countries eliminated MS-induced explicit negative attitudes toward immigrants. In Study 3, thinking about similarities between one's own painful childhood memories and those of people from other countries eliminated the MS-induced reduction in support for peace-making. Mediation analyses suggest the effects were driven by perceived similarity of people across cultures. These findings suggest that priming widely shared human experiences can attenuate MS-induced intergroup conflict.     

The unexpectedly positive consequences of confronting sexism

Majority-group members expect to dislike those who confront them for prejudiced behavior. Yet if majority-group members are susceptible to the same social constraints as minority-group members, then their public responses to confrontation should be similarly inhibited. A tempered response to confrontation could smooth a potentially problematic social interaction, thereby producing an outcome that is better than expected. Female confederates confronted men during an interpersonal interaction and then had a second conversation. When interpersonally confronted, men reported equally positive evaluations of a sexist and gender-neutral confronter and confrontational interaction. Additionally, after the sexist confrontation, men's compensatory efforts increased mutual liking and this mutual liking then reduced men's use of sexist language. Thus, social forces also constrain those who are confronted as prejudiced, thereby positively influencing intergroup relations.     

Reducing implicit prejudice: Matching approach/avoidance strategies to contextual valence and regulatory focus

Two general strategies for reducing prejudice are to approach equality and to avoid prejudice. The current research investigated the importance of matching two factors, contextual valence and regulatory focus, on the efficacy of these two strategies in reducing implicit prejudice. The findings demonstrate that although an approach strategy is more effective in decreasing prejudice on the Implicit Association Test in a positive rather than a negative context, an avoidance strategy is more effective in decreasing prejudice in a negative rather than a positive context (Study 1). In addition, the results show that although an approach strategy is more effective in decreasing prejudice when a promotion rather than a prevention focus is primed, an avoidance strategy is more effective in reducing prejudice when a prevention rather than a promotion focus is primed (Study 2). The implications of these findings for current interventions aimed at decreasing implicit prejudice are discussed.     

Decoding the implicit association test: Implications for criterion prediction

The implicit association test (IAT) is believed to measure implicit evaluations by assessing reaction times on two cognitive tasks, often termed “compatible” and “incompatible” tasks. A common rationale for studying the IAT is that it might improve our prediction and understanding of meaningful psychological criteria. To date, however, no clear psychometric theory has been advanced for this measure. We examine the theory, methods and analytic strategies surrounding the IAT in the context of criterion prediction to determine measurement and causal models a researcher embraces (knowingly or unknowingly) by using the test. Our analyses reveal that the IAT revolves around interpretation of two distinct relative constructs, one at the conceptual level and one at the observed level. We show that interest in relative implicit evaluations at the conceptual level imposes a causal model that is restrictive in form. We then examine measurement models of the IAT and show how computing a difference score at the observed level may lack empirical justification. These issues are highlighted in a study replicating an effect established in the literature (Study 1). We then introduce a new variant of the IAT and use it to evaluate the reasonableness of traditional IAT methods (Study 2).