Social inferences concerning male and female homeowners who use a gun to shoot an intruder

Two experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that gender stereotypes influence social inferences about homeowners who use a gun to shoot an intruder. It was predicted that homeowners who violate stereotypical norms would be perceived more negatively, and would be perceived as more responsible for the consequences of their weapon use than would homeowners of both genders who represent stereotype-consistency. The data from the first experiment provided some support for this notion. Male homeowners who shot incompetently were perceived more negatively than were men who shot the intruder with competence. The opposite trend was observed for female homeowners. The second experiment tested a refinement of this hypothesis and revealed how attitudes toward guns, specifically degree of acceptance of the notion that guns provide their owners with protection, moderates the social judgments formed about homeowners who use weapons as a means of defending their property during a burglary, Persons for whom the event is inconsistent with their attitude-based expectancies blamed the stereotype-inconsistent homeowners more than the gender stereotype-consistent homeowners, particularly the skillful female shooters. Individuals with relatively negative attitudes toward guns, in contrast, tended to perceive the skillful female shooters more positively than the other homeowners. Perceptions of weapons users who find themselves and their actions scrutinized by the media and the court system may depend upon perceivers' pre-existing category expectations and attitudes. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Immigrant youth of Indian origin: Generational differences in self-critical perfectionism

A community sample of foreign-born first generation (n = 53) and U.S.-born secondgeneration (n = 57) youth of Indian origin (ages 18–25) was studied. Variables predicting self-critical perfectionism were perceived prejudice, enculturation, and communication difficulty with parents and their interaction with generation status. The differences between the two generations pointed to nuanced self-pressures of Indian immigrant youth, despite good academic standing and middle-class family income. Implications discuss counseling with Indian immigrant youth.     

Self and Identity Among Aging Immigrants in The Joy Luck Club

This article uses George Herbert Mead's theory of symbolic interaction to examine self and identity among aging immigrants in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club (1989). Social scientists have largely bypassed analysis of fictional accounts of the Asian diaspora. My motivation for employing Mead's theory is to extend social scientific analysis to novels on aging and ethnicity. By examining self-narratives in fictional representations of the aging immigrant experience, I assess how identity develops out of particular social conditions and is achieved through social, psychological processes. Despite some limitations, symbolic interaction offers insights into the process whereby the present brings reinterpretation of the past and individuals are compelled to assign meaning to their life histories.     

Variations in adults' subjective ages in relation to birthday nearness,age awareness,and attitudes toward aging

This research examined the extent to which variations in adults' subjective age identities were related to information provided by proximal age markers, which are specific age-symbolic experiences presumed to channel shifts in age identities. To this end, adults' psychological, physical, and social subjective age identities were examined in relation to the nearness of their birthdays. In the absence of proximal age information, younger and older adults showed distinctive age-related changes in subjective age. On the other hand, older men's and women's social subjective ages as well as older women's psychological subjective age were less youthful the nearer their birthdays. However, younger adults' age identities did not vary with the closeness of their birthdays. Several gender differences in addition to the moderating effects of adults' awareness of their age and their attitudes toward aging were also observed.     

How does exposure to masked individuals affect White Americans' attitudes toward Asian American and Pacific Islanders?

Across three studies, conducted between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021, we tested whether exposure to an Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) target person wearing a face mask would increase or decrease White Americans' perceived threat from and positivity toward AAPI individuals. Although results varied by study, a single-paper meta-analysis revealed that the masked (compared to unmasked) AAPI target resulted in greater positivity toward AAPIs, due to reduced perceptions of both symbolic threat to group values and realistic threat to group health. Positivity toward AAPIs did not reliably differ after exposure to a masked versus unmasked White target. Implications for interventions that encourage COVID-safe behaviors and combat anti-AAPI attitudes are discussed.     

作为情境变量的移情对暴力态度的影响

本研究将移情作为影响个体暴力态度的情境变量,通过对移情的启动来考察状态移情对暴力态度的影响。实验1在启动被试的移情感后,采用暴力IAT的方法考察被试内隐暴力态度的变化;实验2则在移情启动之后,用FMMU变态人格危险性评估问卷中的冲动倾向（VIO）考察被试的外显暴力的变化。实验结果显示,在启动被试的移情感后,我们没有发现被试的内隐和外显暴力态度发生显著变化,但经移情和性别的交互作用检验后发现,移情的启动减弱了男性被试的外显暴力态度,而对女性被试没有影响。研究结果表明,移情与暴力态度之间不存在内隐联结关系。根据以往的研究结果,移情对暴力态度的影响一是取决于意识层面的认知加工过程,二是与个体的特质性移情水平的高低有关。     

Cultural threat and perceived realistic group conflict as dual predictors of prejudice

Recent research has focused on how perceived intergroup similarity influences stereotyping and prejudice. Very little is known, however, regarding how the quality or type of similarity influences intergroup relations. Presented is a methodology that allows one to manipulate the quality of perceived intergroup similarity. This methodology is used to test contrasting predictions about how perceptions of intergroup similarity on self-stereotyped interpersonal and work-related traits predict attitudes towards immigrants. Predictions were derived from cultural threat and perceived realistic group conflict theories. Some participants were asked to rate how similar they perceived their in-group was to Mexican immigrants, whereas others were asked to evaluate how the groups differed on the given traits. Control participants evaluated themselves on the given traits. Participants were presented with either interpersonal traits or work related traits as stimuli. The main dependent measures were a perceived realistic conflict scale, a prejudice scale, and a stereotyping scale. All three scales used Mexican immigrants as the target category. When interpersonal traits were made salient, contrast comparisons led to more negative attitudes towards immigrants, supporting a cultural threat hypothesis. When work-related traits were made salient, similarity comparisons led to more prejudice and more negative attitudes towards immigrants, supporting a perceived realistic conflict hypothesis. Thus, a perceived threat to either the cultural norm or economic well being led to more negative attitudes towards immigrants. Results are discussed for their relevance to models of intergroup relations.     

Reliability and Validity of a French Translation of a Short Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity

The reliability and validity of a French translation of the 7-item short form of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity was examined among a sample of 462 female French university students. Analysis supports the reliability and validity of the scale and commends it for further use among French speaking samples.     

Stereotypes and beliefs about different ethnic groups in Spain. A study with Spanish and Latin American children living in Madrid

96 Spanish and Latin American children from 3 grades in Madrid reported their knowledge of positive and negative stereotypes regarding Spaniards, Gypsies, Latin American and Chinese people. Their personal beliefs about these four ethnic groups were also assessed. Stereotypes about Spaniards were perceived as overwhelmingly positive and least negatively while stereotypes about Gypsies were rarely positive and often negative. Spanish children attributed more positive and fewer negative stereotypes to Chinese immigrants than Latin American children did. Older children reported more positive stereotypes about Gypsies than younger children and older Spanish children reported fewer positive stereotypes for their own group than their younger counterparts. Older children's personal beliefs about Gypsies were less consistent with negative stereotypes than younger children's. Older children also showed greater discrepancy of their personal beliefs with positive stereotypes of Spaniards than younger children did. Findings are discussed within the context of socio-cognitive approaches.     

The Sexual Double Standard: Fact or Fiction?

In contemporary society it is widely believed that men are socially rewarded for sexual activity, whereas women are derogated for sexual activity. To determine whether a sexual double standard exists, both undergraduate (n = 144) and Internet (n = 8,080) participants evaluated experimental targets who were described as either male or female and as having a variable number of sexual partners. Targets were more likely to be derogated as the number of sexual partners increased, and this effect held for both male and female targets. These results suggest that, although people do evaluate others as a function of sexual activity, people do not necessarily hold men and women to different sexual standards.