Intergroup Prejudice Research Articles

The Role of Networked Narratives in Amplifying or Mitigating Intergroup Prejudice: A YouTube Case Study

This purpose of this research is to understand the role of networked narratives in social media in modulating viewer prejudice toward ethnic neighborhoods. We designed experimental videos on YouTube based on intergroup contact theory and narrative frameworks aimed at (1) gaining knowledge, (2) reducing anxiety, and (3) fostering empathy. Despite consistent storytelling across the videos, we observed significant variations in viewer emotions, especially in replies to comments. We hypothesized that these discrepancies could be explained by the influence of the surrounding digital network on the narrative’s reception. Two-stage research was conducted to understand this phenomenon. First, automated emotion analysis on user comments was conducted to identify the varying emotions. Then, we explored contextual factors surrounding each video on YouTube, focusing on algorithmic curation inferred from traffic sources, region, and search keywords. Findings revealed that negative algorithmic curation and user interactivity result in overall negative viewer emotion, largely driven by video placement and recommendations. However, videos with higher traffic originating from viewers who had watched the storyteller’s other videos result in more positive sentiments and longer visits. This suggests that consistent exposure within the channel can foster more positive acceptance of cultural outgroups by building trust and reducing anxiety. There is the need, then, for storytellers to curate discussions to mitigate prejudice in digital contexts.

Do moral values change with the seasons?

Moral values guide consequential attitudes and actions. Here, we report evidence of seasonal variation in Americans' endorsement of some-but not all-moral values. Studies 1 and 2 examined a decade of data from the United States (total N = 232,975) and produced consistent evidence of a biannual seasonal cycle in values pertaining to loyalty, authority, and purity ("binding" moral values)-with strongest endorsement in spring and autumn and weakest endorsement in summer and winter-but not in values pertaining to care and fairness ("individualizing" moral values). Study 2 also provided some evidence that the summer decrease, but not the winter decrease, in binding moral value endorsement was stronger in regions with greater seasonal extremity. Analyses on an additional year of US data (study 3; n = 24,199) provided further replication and showed that this biannual seasonal cycle cannot be easily dismissed as a sampling artifact. Study 4 provided a partial explanation for the biannual seasonal cycle in Americans' endorsement of binding moral values by showing that it was predicted by an analogous seasonal cycle in Americans' experience of anxiety. Study 5 tested the generalizability of the primary findings and found similar seasonal cycles in endorsement of binding moral values in Canada and Australia (but not in the United Kingdom). Collectively, results from these five studies provide evidence that moral values change with the seasons, with intriguing implications for additional outcomes that can be affected by those values (e.g., intergroup prejudices, political attitudes, legal judgments).

Motivations for Endogamous Relationship Preferences.

People tend to select romantic partners who belong to the same social group as themselves (i.e., endogamy). However, there is limited research on the proximal psychological motivations for choosing endogamous relationship partners. The purpose of this research was to develop a measure of motivations for endogamous relationship preferences and to assess whether such motivations were associated with actual dating experiences and attitudes toward endogamy across four common social categories: race and/or ethnicity, religion, social class, and education. Data from an online sample of participants (Study 1, n = 341) were used to generate items assessing motivations for endogamous relationship preferences. This initial set of items was administered to a new sample of participants (Study 2, n = 193) to establish the component structure of the measure and to examine whether the motivational components were associated with participants' past exogamous dating experiences as well as the perceived importance of dating within one's own racial and/or ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and educational group. Endogamy motivations characterized by intergroup prejudice were the strongest and most consistent correlates of endogamous relationships and the perceived importance of endogamy. Study 3 (n = 332) replicated the component structure of the measure and the general pattern of associations documented in Study 2, and provided evidence for the measure's construct validity. The overall findings suggest that intergroup prejudice partially explains preferences for endogamous relationships.

The battle for Central: ethnicity, urbanization and citizenship in Kenya’s 2022 general elections

ABSTRACT In Kenya’s 2022 general elections, presidential candidate William Ruto did something unusual – he dominated the vote in the heartlands of one of his main political rivals, President Uhuru Kenyatta. In turn, Ruto’s ability to win power by mobilizing support outside of his own Kalenjin community has led to speculation that the political power of ethnicity is waning. Drawing on surveys, economic and demographic analysis and interviews during the campaign in Central Kenya – a predominantly Kikuyu area and Kenyatta’s supposed political homeland – we cast doubt on this argument. Evidence from the campaign trail suggests that while structural changes within Kenyan society, including the emergence of a more urban, educated and critical electorate, played an important role in Ruto’s electoral success, it was also underpinned by historic ethnic allegiances, inter-group prejudice, and the use of ethnically-rooted clientelist strategies to build political networks. In particular, past campaigns saw Odinga depicted as an unsuitable leader based on his history, personality, and Luo ethnicity, generating formidable barriers to winning support. The implications of this argument extend beyond our understanding of Kenya to recent debates about the impact of urbanization and political socialization on political subjectivities and behaviour in Africa.

Investigating How High Perceived Economic Inequality Exacerbates Intergroup Competition, Zero-Sum Beliefs, and Perceived Intergroup Prejudice.

Rising economic inequality is associated with more prejudice. Little empirical data, however, investigate how inequality affects individuals' psychological processing and, in turn, exacerbates perceptions of prejudice in people's geographic area. We hypothesized that higher perceived economic inequality triggers beliefs that unequal economies are zero-sum and leads to beliefs that people are in competition for limited resources, which may ultimately exacerbate perceived prejudice. Through nine experiments (Studies 1-5 in the manuscript and three additional studies in the Supplement), we provide evidence that higher perceived inequality increases perceived prejudice against a wide range of outgroups. Furthermore, zero-sum beliefs and perceived competition serially mediate this relationship (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 4, we investigate nuance in this hypothesized model by testing whether higher perceived economic inequality exacerbates perceived racial/ethnic prejudice among a large, diverse sample and find a similar pattern of results. Finally (Study 5), we demonstrate that assuaging competition beliefs mitigates perceived prejudice.

Refugees as perceived threat: College students' attitudes towards refugees in South Korea

AbstractIn 2018, the influx of Yemeni asylum seekers generated the unprecedented politicization of the refugee issue in South Korea. This paper explored South Korean attitudes towards refugees by collecting data from Korean college students. In doing so, we looked into what led to negative attitudes towards refugees and the role perceived threats play as a mediator. Following previous studies on intergroup threat theory, we noted that threat perception was a useful tool in understanding intergroup prejudice and anxiety as perceived threats and their antecedents were found to explain a significant amount of the attitudes towards refugees. We also found strong interconnections between prejudices towards different minority groups, including Islamophobia, homophobia and anti‐refugee attitudes. This finding supported the idea that such prejudices are part of a larger intolerant belief system towards minority groups in general.

Local Legislation is Associated With Regional Transgender Attitudes.

Using a newly developed measure of implicit transgender attitudes, we investigate the association between state-level antitransgender policies and individual-level attitudes about transgender people among residents. In a large sample of U.S. participants (N = 211,133), we find that individuals living in states with more discriminatory policies against transgender people (e.g., not allowing changes to one's gender identity on official identity papers) exhibited more negative implicit and explicit transgender attitudes. This pattern held after controlling for participant race and gender, as well as when looking only at cisgender participants. These findings extend prior work concerning how intergroup biases relate to regional characteristics such as legislation and do so in a novel and consequential context. This research also informs ongoing work concerning the role of policy-making and social norms on the development and expression of intergroup prejudice.

The contact hypothesis and the virtual revolution: Does face-to-face interaction remain central to improving intergroup relations?

Research on the contact hypothesis has traditionally prioritized the role of positive, direct, face-to-face interactions in shaping intergroup prejudices, but it has recently expanded to study indirect vicarious, negative, and online contact experiences. In the majority of studies though, there has been little direct comparison of the relationship between these different forms of contact and prejudice. The present research set out to compare the amount and effects of negative, online, and vicarious contact in the context of positive, face-to-face and direct contact in two studies. Study 1 comprised a national cross-sectional survey of relations between White and Black UK residents (n = 1014), and Study 2 comprised a national longitudinal survey of relations between Catholic and Protestant residents of Northern Ireland (n = 1030). The results of both studies indicated that positive face-to-face contact occurred more frequently and had a comparatively stronger relationship with prejudice than other forms of contact. However, they also indicated the effects of online, negative and vicarious forms of contact existed independently of those of direct, positive face-to-face contact. Moreover, online negative contact generally had a stronger relationship to prejudice than negative contact experienced face-to-face. Exploratory mediation analyses suggested the affective pathways from contact to prejudice may vary for different forms of contact.

Misperceptions, Intergroup Prejudice, and the Varied Encounters Between European Citizens and Non-EU Foreigners

Abstract How does interpersonal exposure to immigrants influence citizens’ opinions about immigrants? The Intergroup Contact Theory (ICT) famously predicts improved attitudes under certain circumstances. However, research on the population innumeracy phenomenon predicts that this same exposure may worsen demographic misperceptions about immigrants. The current study seeks to analyze these contradictory possibilities with data on native-born citizens’ encounters with non-EU immigrants from the 2017 Eurobarometer survey. The analysis considers a wide variety of exposure contexts and generates hypotheses about which will matter most for each outcome based on cognitive availability processes and the optimal conditions outlined in the original ICT. The results indicate that intergroup exposure increases both positive attitudes toward immigrants and incorrect perceptions about immigrants. However, context matters. Those with exposure to immigrants among their primary networks or through their participation in sport, volunteer, and cultural activities exhibit the most pro-immigrant evaluations. Those with exposure through their neighborhoods and workplaces exhibit the most inflated perceptions. The study concludes by considering the implications of these findings for future research.

A Mindful Path Toward Prejudice Reduction: Key Mindfulness Facets and Mediators for Promoting Positive Intergroup Relations

ObjectivesMindfulness might promote an open, accepting, less stereotypical view of people belonging to other social groups. We hypothesized positive cross-sectional (H1) and longitudinal (H2) associations between dispositional mindfulness — especially the Observing facet — and positive intergroup outcomes (i.e., better intergroup attitudes and contact experiences, lower intergroup prejudice, higher deprovincialization), and that those associations would be mediated by dispositional curiosity and reflection (H3).MethodWe tested H1 in Study 1 (two waves, 1-month interval, n = 102) and Study 2 (cross-sectional, n = 679), with linear models in which attitudes and prejudice toward immigrants, contact with immigrants (only in Study 2), and deprovincialization were predicted by mindfulness facets. We tested H2 in Study 1, with cross-lagged path models replicating the cross-sectional analyses, and H3 in Study 2, with structural equation models in which Reflection, Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Social Curiosity mediated the relationships between facets of dispositional mindfulness and intergroup outcomes.ResultsResults largely supported hypotheses. Consistent with H1, in Studies 1 and 2, Observing was associated with all intergroup outcomes; in Study 2, Describing was associated with higher deprovincialization, better attitudes, and lower prejudice, and Nonjudging with higher deprovincialization and positive contact. As for H2, we found a unidirectional association from Observing to attitudes. Concerning H3, we found mediating paths between some mindfulness facets and intergroup outcomes through Reflection, Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Social Curiosity.ConclusionsResults support the possibility to build prejudice reduction interventions grounded on mindfulness, to increase awareness of negative stereotypes and openness to differences among people.PreregistrationThe study was not preregistered.

Cultivating Adulthood Prejudice Toward Black Americans and Low-Income Individuals Through Childhood Social Media Use: A Retrospective Approach

ABSTRACTPrevious research has linked lifetime media use with intergroup prejudice. Our studies extend previous findings by linking current intergroup prejudice (race, social class) with retrospectively reported media use in specific life stages (childhood, adolescence, adulthood). Across two surveys (n = 293; n = 369), we found childhood social media use, but not adolescence or adulthood social media use, significantly predicted participants’ current prejudicial attitudes toward Black individuals and low-income individuals, mediated through social dominance orientation. Additionally, overall lifetime social media use was associated with positive and negative racial attitudes through social dominance orientation. However, findings with lifetime TV use were mixed. Neither of indirect effects between overall lifetime TV use, social dominance orientation, and racial attitudes (or income egalitarianism) was statistically significant. Further, neither of these indirect effects with TV use in specific life stages was significant. Overall, the present findings call for attention on contemporary media in addition to traditional media in cultivation research.

Perceptions of Disability among University Students

Perceptions of disability are important constructs that influence not only the well-being of people with disabilities but also the moral compass of society. Negative attitudes toward disability can lead to social exclusion and isolation of people with disabilities, whereas positive attitudes promote social inclusion. The present study was conducted to examine the main predictors of disability perceptions among university students, provided that understanding these factors can help develop effective interventions to improve students’ attitudes toward peers with disabilities and reduce intergroup prejudice. Using 110 responses from university students at a public university, the study found that knowledge and exposure contribute significantly to perceptions among university students. Management of the university plays a critical role in shaping positive perceptions by facilitating meaningful interactions with people with disabilities, promoting disability awareness and education, and creating an environment that values diversity.

Disease and prejudice: risk attribution to ethno-racial groups over the course of a pandemic

ABSTRACT Past research suggests that disease outbreaks drive prejudice towards minorities as they increase economic and disease threats. Based on an open-ended survey question distributed to 7,902 German residents over the course of one year of the Covid-19 pandemic (April 2020 to April 2021), we investigate the link between life-threatening events and ethno-racial prejudice. We find that pandemic-related threats only drive respondents’ tendency to scapegoat ethno-racial groups if they hold left and center leaning ideologies. However, for far-right supporters who are the most likely to attribute the spread of Covid-19 to ethno-racial groups, pandemic-related threats do not affect that attribution. We further find that threat theories are of limited relevance for explaining which ethno-racial groups are targeted: respondents held Chinese accountable at the beginning of the pandemic but quickly shifted their attention to immigrants – a salient figure in pre-Covid-19 rightist rhetoric. We show that ideology, more than pandemic-induced threat, continues to drive prejudice and demonstrate the under-utilized advantages of using open-ended survey questions for understanding the dynamics of intergroup prejudice.

Watching the mimickers: Mimicry and identity in observed interactions.

Mimicry enhances one's judgments of the mimicker when it is directed toward the self. However, often interactions do not involve only the participants; observers also judge people, and such judgments are influenced by social identities. So, does mimicry also have positive effects even on observers' evaluations of the mimicker? Furthermore, does that hold even if the mimicker is an out-group member? To answer these questions, we used two video experiments (N₁ = 377; N₂ = 670) to compare mimicry and neutral (no mimicry) interactions between two individuals who were primed to be in either the participant's in-group or out-group. In both studies, we found the expected negative out-group bias when participants observed the neutral interaction but only for competence-related variables. However, such biases were diminished in the mimicry condition, indicating that mimicry, even when it is merely observed and directed at someone else, may alter mimicker-related attitudes stemming from social identities. Our findings therefore contribute to the literature on reducing intergroup prejudice by demonstrating the behavior-based malleability of a negative out-group bias. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Отличается ли культурная и эмоциональная компетентности в регионах Индии? Сравнительное исследование

<p>Students from various parts of India periodically migrate to universities for academic and professional reasons. They reflect various cultural diversities and have to overcome obstacles like intergroup prejudice and acculturative stress. Although these factors can differ by region, the response tendency may be influenced by their respective cultural intelligence/quotient (CQ) and emotional intelligence/quotient (EQ). The comparisons of CQ and EQ across students from significant regions of India, however, have never been recorded in a prior study. This study attempted to examine the level of CQ and EQ among students who were enrolled in educational institutions in Kalaburagi City, who belong to three major regions of India (North, South-East, and South-West). A total of 385 students between the ages of 18 and 31 (mean age: 20.56; standard deviation: 2.633) were recruited for the study. Surprisingly, there were significant geographical disparities in the use of emotions and metacognitive CQ. Compared to students from the other two regions, students from the south-eastern area performed better while using emotional EQ and scored less while using meta-cognitive CQ. The study deduced the plausible factors and potential explanations for CQ – EQ disparities and inter-regional acceptability among students from three major regions, which may be used to develop a CQ & EQ training program for usage across India's educational system.</p>

Educating for inclusion: Diversity education programs can reduce prejudice toward outgroups in Israel

Intergroup prejudice is pervasive in many contexts worldwide, leading to discrimination and conflict. Existing research suggests that prejudice is acquired at an early age and that durably improving intergroup relations is extremely challenging, often requiring intense interventions. Building on existing research in social psychology and inspired by the Israeli TV series "You Can't Ask That," which depicts charismatic children from minority groups broaching sensitive topics at the core of intergroup relations, we develop a month-long diversity education program. Our program exposed students to the TV series and facilitated follow-up classroom discussions in which students constructively addressed various sensitive topics at the core of intergroup relations and learned about intergroup similarities, intragroup heterogeneity, and the value of taking others' perspectives. Through two field experiments implemented in Israeli schools, we show that integrating our intervention into school curricula improved Jewish students' attitudes toward minorities and increased some pro-diversity behavior up to 13 wk posttreatment. We further provide suggestive evidence that the intervention was effective by encouraging students to take their outgroups' perspectives and address an element of scalability by delegating implementation responsibilities to classroom teachers in our second study. Our findings suggest that theoretically informed intensive education programs are a promising route to reducing prejudice at a young age.

Pathogen threat and intergroup prejudice using the minimal group paradigm: Evidence from a registered report

Infection by parasites, bacteria, and other microorganisms has been a powerful selection pressure faced by humans and other species. Consequently, avoiding pathogens has played an important role in human evolution and continues to play a role in contemporary social psychological processes. The current research tested the hypothesis that pathogen avoidance promotes intergroup prejudice. Whereas previous tests relied on existing cultural groups, which can conflate outgroup status with pre-existing group stereotypes about disease or geographic variability in pathogen prevalence, the current experiments assessed intergroup bias using a minimal group paradigm. Based on preliminary evidence (Study 1, N = 207, undergraduate students) that experimentally priming pathogen avoidance motivation promoted negativity toward a minimal outgroup, we conducted a Registered Report (Study 2, N = 1339 online participants) to replicate and extend those findings. Our primary hypothesis was that an experimental manipulation of pathogen threat (relative to two control conditions) would produce greater intergroup prejudice (negativity toward the nominal outgroup relative to the nominal ingroup). This hypothesis was not supported in the larger, registered second study. Exploratory analyses provided some evidence for interactions between experimental priming of pathogen threat and individual differences in pathogen disgust, but the interactive pattern differed across the two experiments. Findings call into question the hypothesis that, in the absence of cultural stereotypes, situationally activated pathogen avoidance promotes intergroup prejudice.

Ideological orientations and generalized prejudice in Turkey: Adapting the dual process motivational model

The mutually exclusive authoritarianisms (i.e., nationalist, secular, and elitist vs. religious-Islamist) in West Asia (Middle East) do not correspond to the political structures in Euro-American settings (i.e., one traditional/conservative authority). This distinction suggests that the relationships of RWA and SDO with political ideologies and generalized prejudice might differ from the predictions of the dual-process motivational model of ideology and generalized prejudice (DPM). To investigate this idea, we used the DPM’s structure with culture-sensitive hypotheses in the light of the socio-cultural work on ideologies and social dynamics in Turkey. In Study 1 (N = 259), belief in a competitive jungle positively predicted SDO, and belief in a dangerous world did not predict RWA. RWA negatively predicted left-wing and positively predicted right-wing ideology. SDO negatively predicted left-wing ideology but did not predict right-wing ideology. In Study 2 (N = 312), the relations between worldviews and attitudinal orientations replicated. Further, we developed a context-specific (i.e., Turkey) generalized prejudice measure to test the hypotheses associated with intergroup prejudice, which had a factor structure compatible with the DPM. SDO predicted prejudice toward derogated groups positively and dangerous groups negatively, and it was not relevant to the attitudes toward dissident groups in Turkey. RWA predicted prejudice toward dissident and dangerous groups positively, and derogated groups negatively. These two studies showed the importance of analyzing political ideology and intergroup prejudice from a cultural-ecological perspective by revealing the contextual characteristics constructing social relations.

Parasocial Relationship and Reduction of Intergroup Prejudice against the Chinese LGBT Community: Intergroup Anxiety and Direct Contact

ABSTRACT Guided by intergroup contact theory, this survey study investigated whether the formation of pseudo-socioemotional ties with well-known LGBT media personas in China (i.e., parasocial relationships) could reduce cisgender heterosexual Chinese participants’ anxiety toward and prejudice against the LGBT community. Results indicated a significant indirect effect of parasocial relationship with LGBT media personas on prejudice against this community through intergroup anxiety: the parasocial relationship was negatively associated with intergroup anxiety, which was consequently associated with less prejudice. Moreover, results indicated the direct effect of parasocial relationships with LGBT media personas on prejudice was moderated by participants’ direct contact with LGBT members: parasocial relationships reduced prejudice only for those who had more direct contact with LGBT individuals. These findings add nuances and create boundary conditions to intergroup contact theory and bear significant practical implications for the Chinese LGBT community.

The dark side of social ties: coronavirus 2019-induced fear and intergroup conflicts

IntroductionThe relationship between fear and social ties has been frequently discussed in the context of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but investigation of the nature of these experiences is still insufficient. Research suggests that people who respect social ties often experience better mental health outcomes. However, when socially isolated, excluded, or subjected to rumors, they may become more vulnerable to criticism, shame, and fear. Another potential problem of the COVID-19 pandemic is intergroup prejudice and distrust.ObjectivesTo examine the development and mitigation of social ties, fears, and biases during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe applied discourse analysis to relevant literature and their associated references that incorporated textual, social, and cognitive dimensions. The main databases used were PubMed and Web of Science.ResultsAlthough the importance of social ties was loudly vocalized as lessening loneliness, people also globally described stigma-related fear or intergroup conflicts. The sense of social ties appeared disproportionately amplified in the form of an in-group identity, group pressures, and empathic distress. Some people overstated worries about their COVID-19-positive status being revealed to others and causing distress for them. Furthermore, discrimination and vigilantism were manifested with fear-related stereotyping and hostility.ConclusionsOur findings support the view that social ties can indeed function as both risk and protective factors. Context-adjusted perspectives and reciprocal dialogs seem crucial to alleviate these negative impacts. The subsequent mitigation of misunderstandings, fear-induced bias, and maladaptive distress appraisal may lead to a more reasonable and flexible recognition of social ties.DisclosureNo significant relationships.