Human rights attitudes and peer influence: The role of explicit bias, gender, and salience

Abstract

Abstract Human rights are an essential element of a civil society. Attitudes about these laws and the role of peer influence in shaping these attitudes, has not garnered much attention. This study examined the strategies individuals employ to influence a peers’ beliefs about human rights laws in Spain. One hundred ninety-six participants at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid completed measures of human rights knowledge, feelings concerning human rights, political alienation, prejudice, sexism, and ethnic bias towards Gitanos (gypsies). Social power strategies to influence peers’ attitudes about the rights of ethnic minorities (Gitanos) and women were measured on Raven's Interpersonal Power Inventory. Gitano Bias, feelings about human rights, and Gough's Prejudice (Pr) scale predicted the endorsement of hard influence strategies. Hostile sexism and the Pr scale predicted the use of both soft and hard strategies concerning women's rights. Greater effort to influence a peer was employed in a high salience condition (e.g., women's use of social power concerning the rights of women). Findings indicate that explicit bias, gender, and salience of human rights to the individual contribute to efforts to influence a peer's beliefs concerning human rights laws.