The Role of Lay Perceptions of Ethnic Prejudice in the Maintenance and Perpetuation of Ethnic Bias

This article discusses the role of lay perceptions of ethnic prejudice in the maintenance and perpetuation of prejudicial attitudes. We first discuss the importance of lay beliefs about ethnic prejudice for understanding processes underlying prejudice and its reduction. We also discuss the potential relations between two individual differences—social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism—and these beliefs. Next, we describe the research that we have conducted on lay perceptions of ethnic prejudice, including perceptions of causes of prejudice, solutions to prejudice, and the inevitability and justifiability of prejudice. This research demonstrates that individuals who are high in social dominance orientation and, to a lesser extent, right-wing authoritarianism, hold beliefs which may serve to maintain and perpetuate prejudicial attitudes. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for developing effective intervention strategies.     

Religion, Meaning, and Prejudice

Links between religion and prejudice have been interpreted to suggest that religion can both reduce and exacerbate prejudice. Here, the analysis of religion as a meaning system illuminates how religion can affect intergroup attitudes. Traditional psychological perspectives on religion and prejudice are summarized, followed by a discussion of religion and prejudice in cross-cultural and cross-religious contexts, involving varying target groups. Next, we explore possible explanatory mechanisms by proposing how four levels of meaning associated with religion—cognitive, motivational, societal, and intergroup—may both promote and attenuate prejudice. Finally, additional factors that might facilitate the paradoxical coexistence of religious egalitarian intentions with prejudiced attitudes are considered, and we speculate about the potential for religious groups to reduce prejudice within their adherents.     

Social Origins of Cognition: Bartlett, Evolutionary Perspective and Embodied Mind Approach

This paper explores new avenues of research on social bases of cognition and a more adequate (than those extant) framework to conceive the phenomena of the human mind. It firstly examines Bartlett's work on social bases of cognition, from which three pertinent features are identified, namely multi-level analyses, evolutionary perspective and embodied mind approach. It then examines recent works on social origins of cognition in ethology and paleoanthropology, and various forms of the embodied mind approach recently proposed in neuroscience and cognitive science. The paper concludes that extending the embodied mind approach would provide the most potent framework to enable, amongst others, the conceptual integration of the biological, psychological and social bases of the human mind, which have in the past been treated mainly as competing alternatives.     

Interpersonal Perspectives on Black–White Health Disparities: Social Policy Implications

There are large and persistent disparities between the health status of Blacks and Whites in the United States. On average, the mental and physical health of Blacks is much poorer than Whites. In this article, we discuss several potential direct causes of Black–White disparities in health status, which include biological or genetic factors, prejudice and related processes, and socioeconomic factors. We also consider how the system-level, patient-level, and provider-level components of healthcare contribute to disparities in health status. We examine in detail the psychological processes associated with patient- and provider-level factors that may produce healthcare disparities. Of particular interest is the potential impact of racial attitudes and stereotypes on provider–patient interactions. Finally, we propose possible directions for future research on health disparities and discuss policy changes that might reduce disparities in health status and healthcare between social groups.     

The Utility of Allport's Conditions of Intergroup Contact for Predicting Perceptions of Improved Racial Attitudes and Beliefs

We test the predictive power of perception as it relates to Allport's (1954/1979) classic articulation of the conditions of contact conducive to reducing intergroup prejudice and increasing tolerance. After summarizing theories of prejudice and models of prejudice reduction, as well as recently published reviews of evidence relating to the Contact Hypothesis, we present results of an evaluation of a prejudice reduction program that trains and places college student facilitators in middle and high school classrooms to lead discussions about race. We show that a composite of five classroom climate conditions that the Contact Hypothesis suggests are conducive to prejudice reduction predicts teachers' and college student facilitators' perceptions of change in three aspects of middle and high school student racial attitudes. Students' perceptions of the school interracial climate are modestly predictive of their changes in these three aspects of racial attitudes. However, teacher and facilitator estimates of student outcomes are uncorrelated with actual student outcomes. Implications of these results for prejudice reduction theory and practice are discussed.     

Social cognition,social neuroscience,and evolutionary social psychology: What's missing?

In this paper I argue that something important, and something social, is missing from contemporary accounts of social cognition, social neuroscience and evolutionary social psychology. Contemporary accounts of social cognition focus on cognition directed towards social objects, that is, towards persons and social groups. In contrast, early twentieth century accounts of socially engaged cognition focused upon beliefs and attitudes oriented to the represented beliefs and attitudes of members of social ‘reference groups’ and directed towards both social and non‐social objects. I argue that this earlier conception of socially engaged cognition should be integrated with contemporary research on social cognition, social neuroscience and evolutionary social psychology, since it poses a challenge but also an opportunity for these disciplines.     

Acculturation and Prejudice in Germany: Majority and Minority Perspectives

This article explores the connections between prejudice and specific attitudes toward acculturation in Germany. Results of surveys confirm the hypothesis that prejudice is related to ideologies of assimilation and segregation among majority- group members. Moreover, experimental and correlational studies indicate that these attitudes are linked to discriminatory behavior. Further analyses of studies with ethnic minorities prove that prejudice and acculturation are linked within minority groups as well. Additionally it is shown that prejudice is functional in order for minorities to acculturate. These studies confirm the impression that there is a close link between macrosocial and microsocial levels of coping with migration.     

Color-Blind Racial Attitudes in White Social Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Focusing on the results of one hypothesis in a larger study, this article examines level of social work education and color-blind racial attitudes in White social workers. Participants (n = 179) who were members of the National Association of Social Workers and self-identified as White, responded to an online survey and completed the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). Color-blind racial attitudes have been linked to prejudice in other studies. BSW-level practitioners were found to be less aware of racial privilege and blatant racial issues. The article addresses the findings and explores the implications for social work educators and social work practitioners.     

Breaking Barriers, Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: Communication Processes in Intergroup Dialogues

Research in intergroup contact and intergroup education is increasingly focused on the psychological and pedagogical processes to explain the impact of interventions on desired outcomes. This emerging scholarship has enriched our understanding about what types of interventions are effective or not and how these interventions impact outcomes of prejudice reduction and social inclusion. In the present study, a new theoretical dimension of processes operating in intergroup contact and education is investigated: communication processes. Factor analyses of communication processes within an intergroup encounter, using data from a pretest/posttest design with a diverse group of students ( n = 211), revealed four factors: (1) appreciating difference, (2) engaging self, (3) critical self-reflection, and (4) alliance building. Furthermore, path analysis shows that these communication processes fully mediate the impact of intergroup dialogue on bridging differences. The communication processes illuminate a deeper understanding of what happens within the context of intergroup encounters and provide a link between pedagogical strategies and psychological processes.     

由心至身:阶层影响身体的社会心理机制

本研究应用2010年中国综合社会调查(CGSS2010)数据分析身体健康与社会阶层的关系及其社会心理机制。在区分身体健康和心理健康的基础上,整合社会学和心理学相关理智资源,将在社会科学领域中越来越具有理论意义的身体研究延伸至经验研究层面。研究表明,个体身体的健康程度在某种程度上是社会阶层在个体身上印刻的结果,而这种印刻过程是通过阶层认同、群际伤害、习得性无助和情感支持等心理过程得以达成。     

Personal values and support of welfare policy among undergraduate students in Israel

Sociological and socio‐psychological theories maintain that values play an essential role in predicting attitudes. Most research portraying the effect of a single value on various attitudes claims that the effect of values on attitudes increases if the attitudes and the specific values are related or if the attitudes involve objects or situations that reflect specific values. This exploratory study examined the relationship between personal values, considered as components of an individual's mindset or psychological structure, and attitudes supporting social welfare policy. The participants in the study were Israeli Bachelor of Arts students from four institutions of higher learning. The students' personal values were measured, and the effect of their values (beyond the students' socio‐demographic characteristics such as gender, religiosity etc.) on social support for welfare policy was tested.     

On the Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: The Third Wave

This article examines how social and historical developments have influenced the intellectual climate surrounding the study of prejudice and illustrates how these advances are reflected in the study of one type of racial bias, aversive racism. Three waves of research are identified. In the first wave, prejudice was assumed to reflect psychopathology. In the second, it was viewed as rooted in normal processes. The third wave emphasizes the multidimensional aspect of prejudice and takes advantage of new technologies to study processes that were earlier hypothesized but not directly measurable. Research on aversive racism is presented to demonstrate the transition of research across the second and third waves and to show how unconscious biases can significantly influence race relations.     

代际流动与外群体歧视——基于2005年全国综合社会调查数据的实证分析

本文基于CGSS2005的调查数据,以对角线参照模型为分析工具,考察了阶层代际流动对城市居民歧视性态度的影响。研究发现,在工作歧视和邻里居住歧视上,代际流动本身能够产生独立于流动者出身阶层与现处阶层的影响;随着年龄的增长,相对于出身阶层,流动者现处阶层对其歧视态度影响程度明显增强;进入社会歧视氛围更低的阶层能够显著降低流动者的歧视态度;相比向上流动,地位下降者对外来人口的歧视程度更高。研究指出,分层与流动研究不仅要考察客观社会结构及其开放状况,也要重视分层及流动对个体行为与态度所带来的主观层面影响。     

Disobedience and support for democracy: Evidences from the World Values Survey

For some time, social movement research and political science have studied protests and activists. However, little empirical research attempts to relate movements to the type of social change they endeavour to achieve. In this paper, we suggest that different psychosocial processes may distinguish between different types of movement and protest. In particular, we cross lines between classical social psychology studies on the individual–authority relationship and studies on protest and social movements. We focus attention on the psychological processes triggered in obedience/disobedience. Our results show that when disobedience is associated with attitudes of inclusiveness, it is also positively linked to prodemocratic individual attitudes and to the enhancement of democracy at institutional levels.     

A quartered typology of welfare attitudes: Evidence from the World Values Survey Wave 7

Based on a typological approach and data from the World Values Survey Wave 7 and utilising the comparative method of variation-finding and a multi-level mixed-effects model, this study formulated a quartered typology of welfare attitudes on the country level informed by people's attitudes towards government responsibility for social welfare (welfare attitudes) and their associations with socio-political orientation. This typology substantiated the cross-national variations in welfare attitudes. Outcome measures included Welfare Attitudes Score, and explanatory measures included subjective social class and political orientation score. This study concludes that country-specific welfare attitudes and their associations with political orientation inform an empirically quartered typology of welfare attitudes. Implications feature closer examinations of within-country variances of welfare attitudes and the correlations of country-specific intercepts and coefficients and highlight further theoretical and conceptual examination and substantiation of this new typology of welfare attitudes.     

Social Identity and Attitudes toward HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis: A Structural Equation Model

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of social identity and prejudice as causal variables in public attitudes toward pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in a UK sample. In all, 222 participants participated in an experimental vignette study with a 2?×?2?×?2 design with between-participants factors of ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender, and completed measures of attitudes toward gay men, Black Africans, and PrEP. Kruskal–Wallis tests showed significant effects of gender on attitudes toward gay men and Black Africans; of ethnicity on attitudes toward gay men and PrEP; and of religion on attitudes toward gay men. A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed more positive attitudes toward PrEP when it was presented as benefitting men (vs. women). Structural equation modeling showed that the relationship between the independent variables of gender, ethnicity, and religion and the dependent variable of attitudes toward PrEP was mediated by attitudes toward gay men and Black Africans. Individuals must perceive the principal beneficiaries of PrEP (i.e., gay men and Black Africans) positively to endorse PrEP for these groups, and sexism may reduce public acceptability of PrEP for women. Future research should use representative samples and alternative experimental manipulations, and include strength of social identification as an independent variable.     

Navigating rough waters: an overview of psychological aspects of surrogacy

This article provides an overview of the social and psychological aspects surrounding the surrogacy process including attitudes about surrogacy, perceptions and problems of surrogate mothers and intended/social parents, and questions concerning children resulting from contractual parenting. Review of the literature on contractual parenting reveals a wealth of discussion about the ethical, moral, legal, and psychological implications, but limited empirical data on the psychological and social aspects. Future research can provide empirical evidence as a foundation for counseling at all phases of the surrogacy process .     

Public Attitudes Toward Immigration in the United States and Canada in Response to the September 11, 2001 "Attack on America"

In this paper, we describe recent trends in attitudes toward immigration in North America, and we suggest how these attitudes are likely to be affected by the September 11, 2001 "Attack on America." We begin by explaining why public attitudes toward immigration are important, and describe recent trends in these attitudes in the United States and Canada. Then, we apply psychological perspectives to predicting how these attitudes are likely to change in response to the events of September 11th. In particular, we describe expected short-term changes in immigration attitudes and expected long-term trends. We conclude by suggesting that an understanding of the psychological processes underlying unfavorable attitudes may assist in counteracting these effects; we also suggest that policy makers will be faced with the difficult task of balancing the need for a sense of security for members of the national group, and maintenance of the positive features of current immigration policies.     

Future Directions: Social Development in the Context of Social Justice

Many societies and cultures have become increasingly diverse and heterogeneous over the past decade. This diversity has a direct bearing on social justice in children's and adolescents' social development. Increased diversity can have positive consequences, such as the possibility for increased empathy, tolerance, perspective taking, and the celebration of various cultural traditions and values, but it can also result in increased prejudice, bias, and discrimination. In this article, we suggest that incorporating a focus on social justice can transform the field of social development. This can be done by considering the larger societal context of diversity or heterogeneity when investigating children's peer interactions, attitudes, group identity, and social experience. In addition, new findings that incorporate social justice concerns have implications for designing interventions to enhance children's healthy social development. We highlight and discuss recent areas of research that bear on this perspective and discuss avenues for future research and investigation.