Superordinate Groups Research Articles

Privatization Of The Education Sector In Indonesia: A Review Of Conflict Theory

Privatization of education in Indonesia is legitimized by a number of regulations, for example Law no. 20 of 2003 on the National Education System and Law no. 9 on Education Legal Entities. The existence of this education legal entity makes educational institutions free to seek capital to invest in educational activities. So that the world of education turns into a commercial investment land. This condition, in the view of sociology, will lead to interclass conflicts caused by the inequality of the community in accessing education. This study aims to describe the views of conflict theory regarding the phenomenon of privatization of education. The method used is the study of literature or literature by collecting secondary data from books, news and journal articles. The results of the study show that 1) the conflict theory view of education privatization can be viewed from the community analysis unit and the individual analysis unit; 2) At the level of the community unit of analysis, education privatization can be explained through Karl Marx's conflict theory and Weber's theory of power. 3) Marx's conflict theory emphasizes the two social classes formed due to differences in ownership of capital production factors. Meanwhile, according to Weber, the process of conflict is caused by the existence of authority or power that separates society into superordinate groups and subordinate groups. 4) At the individual unit of analysis level, conflicts due to education privatization can be viewed from Coser's conflict theory, where conflicts do not only have a negative impact, but also a positive impact on society.

Ingroup Projection in American Politics: An Obstacle to Bipartisanship

One potential obstacle to cooperation between political parties is ingroup projection, the tendency for members of subgroups to define superordinate groups based on characteristics of their own ingroups. In five studies spanning 11 years and three presidential administrations, we demonstrated that ingroup projection can be an obstacle that prevents bipartisanship between Republicans and Democrats. Study 1 showed that Americans perceived political ingroups as more prototypical of Americans than outgroups and that the degree of mismatch between the outgroup and the superordinate group was associated with ingroup bias. Studies 2–5 demonstrated that perceiving the outgroup as poorly fitting the prototype of the superordinate group predicted opposition to bipartisan cooperation and a lower likelihood of having engaged in bipartisan behavior (Studies 4 and 5). These studies provide evidence for ingroup projection among American political parties and suggest that it contributes to political polarization.

The Influence of Sample Size on Parameter Estimates in Three-Level Random-Effects Models.

In educational psychology, observational units are oftentimes nested within superordinate groups. Researchers need to account for hierarchy in the data by means of multilevel modeling, but especially in three-level longitudinal models, it is often unclear which sample size is necessary for reliable parameter estimation. To address this question, we generated a population dataset based on a study in the field of educational psychology, consisting of 3000 classrooms (level-3) with 55000 students (level-2) measured at 5 occasions (level-1), including predictors on each level and interaction effects. Drawing from this data, we realized 1000 random samples each for various sample and missing value conditions and compared analysis results with the true population parameters. We found that sampling at least 15 level-2 units each in 35 level-3 units results in unbiased fixed effects estimates, whereas higher-level random effects variance estimates require larger samples. Overall, increasing the level-2 sample size most strongly improves estimation soundness. We further discuss how data characteristics influence parameter estimation and provide specific sample size recommendations.

What did they say? How subgroup stereotypes influence memory for superordinate groups

Members of different groups often disagree when it comes to determining which group most accurately represents a shared superordinate group. Many studies have shown that the ingroup is often perceived as more prototypical of a superordinate category than the outgroup (i.e., relative prototypicality effect). This higher perceived congruence (overlap) between ingroup and superordinate group representations should be reflected in individuals' information processing and memory regarding the superordinate group. The authors hypothesized that in recall paradigms (H1), individuals would initially show better memory for information from the superordinate group that is inconsistent (rather than consistent) with the ingroup stereotype. We assumed that in recognition paradigms (H2), individuals would be more likely to attribute information to the superordinate group if the information was consistent with ingroup vs. outgroup stereotypes. Finally, we hypothesized that in recognition paradigms, individuals would confuse the ingroup with the superordinate group more often than they would confuse the outgroup with the superordinate group (H3). Five experiments testing these hypotheses (N = 314) and using different groups and stimulus modalities generally support these assumptions. The findings suggest that perceivers initially engage in inconsistency processing when confronted with information from a superordinate group that contradicts their ingroup-based expectation. However, even though perceivers initially recall such information particularly well, they are not able to integrate contradictory information successfully. More generally, our findings indicate that the perceived overlap between ingroup and superordinate group representations affects individuals' memory and thus helps explain why the relative prototypicality effect is such a robust phenomenon.

Cystine knot growth factors and their functionally versatile proregions.

The cystine knot disulfide pattern has been found to be widespread in nature, since it has been detected in proteins from plants, marine snails, spiders and mammals. Cystine knot proteins are secreted proteins. Their functions range from defense mechanisms as toxins, e.g. ion channel or enzyme inhibitors, to hormones, blood factors and growth factors. Cystine knot proteins can be divided into two superordinate groups. (i) The cystine knot peptides, also referred to - with other non-cystine knot proteins - as knottins, with linear and cyclic polypeptide chains. (ii) The cystine knot growth factor family, which is in the focus of this article. The disulfide ring structure of the cystine knot peptides is made up by the half-cystines 1-4 and 2-5, and the threading disulfide bond is formed by the half-cystines, 3-6. In the growth factor group, the disulfides of half-cystines 1 and 4 pass the ring structure formed by the half-cystines 2-5 and 3-6. In this review, special emphasis will be devoted to the growth factor cystine knot proteins and their proregions. The latter have shifted into the focus of scientific interest as their important biological roles are just to be unravelled.

Can Caring Create Prejudice? An Investigation of Positive and Negative Intergenerational Contact in Care Settings and the Generalisation of Blatant and Subtle Age Prejudice to Other Older People

Caring is a positive social act, but can it result in negative attitudes towards those cared for, and towards others from their wider social group? Based on intergroup contact theory, we tested whether care workers' (CWs) positive and negative contact with old‐age care home residents (CHRs) predicts prejudiced attitudes towards that group, and whether this generalises to other older people. Fifty‐six CWs were surveyed about their positive and negative contact with CHRs and their blatant and subtle attitudes (humanness attributions) towards CHRs and older adults. We tested indirect paths from contact with CHRs to attitudes towards older adults via attitudes towards CHRs. Results showed that neither positive nor negative contact generalised blatant ageism. However, the effect of negative, but not positive, contact on the denial of humanness to CHRs generalised to subtle ageism towards older adults. This evidence has practical implications for management of CWs' work experiences and theoretical implications, suggesting that negative contact with a subgroup generalises the attribution of humanness to superordinate groups. Because it is difficult to identify and challenge subtle prejudices such as dehumanisation, it may be especially important to reduce negative contact. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Back to the roots: When diversity evokes increased group-based conventionalism

Previous research has demonstrated that emphasizing diversity within superordinate groups can either improve or impair subgroup relations. The present research investigated whether this can depend on the way in which diversity is activated. We activated diversity by presenting central or peripheral subgroups. We tested the effects on group-based conventionalism and subgroup attitudes within the superordinate group of “metal music fans”. Participants were members of the (majority) subgroup of death metal fans. When the superordinate group’s diversity was activated with peripheral subgroups, death metal fans showed higher group-based conventionalism than in the condition in which central subgroups were presented. Group-based conventionalism mediated the relation between diversity activation and subgroup attitudes. Higher group-based conventionalism led to less positive subgroup attitudes (Experiments 1 and 2). However, this detrimental “back to the roots”-process did only occur for majority members who perceived a high overlap of their subgroup and the superordinate group (Experiment 2). Underlying factors of this process and practical implications for multicultural contexts are discussed.

How diversity training can change attitudes: Increasing perceived complexity of superordinate groups to improve intergroup relations

When conceiving diversity training—a popular strategy to manage prejudice within organizations and educational settings—there is little reliance on social–psychological theorizing and a lack of research on training effectiveness. In line with the ingroup projection model (Mummendey & Wenzel, 1999), we postulate diversity training to improve intergroup attitudes by increasing perceived superordinate-group diversity. We tested this in two experiments with control-group designs and repeated measurement. In Experiment 1 (N=62), a 2-hour diversity intervention (covered as get-to-know activities) increased perceived diversity of the superordinate group students and improved feelings towards the gender-outgroup. In Experiment 2 (N=51), a 1-day diversity training increased perceived diversity of the superordinate groups adults and Germans and improved subgroup attitudes regarding gender, age, and nationality. Moreover, the training had positive long-term effects and reductions of ambivalent sexism were mediated by increased perceived diversity of the respective superordinate group adults. Our findings demonstrate that the ingroup-projection model provides a suitable theoretical foundation for real-world anti-prejudice interventions such as diversity training.

Shared national identification in Northern Ireland: An application of psychological models of group inclusion post conflict

The common ingroup identity model (CIIM) holds that viewing former outgroup members as part of a larger shared ingroup can allow social categorisation to be harnessed for social cohesion. The ingroup projection model (IPM) suggests that even where shared identification occurs, social divisions can be transposed into superordinate groups. Here we explore the potentially inclusive national identity in a region (Northern Ireland) which has historically seen a high polarisation of identities. Using three data sets ( N = 2000; N = 359; N = 1179), we examine the extent to which a superordinate inclusive national identity, Northern Irish, is related to conciliatory attitudes. We find a common ingroup identity is linked to more positive social attitudes but not to more positive political attitudes. We conclude by considering the complexities of applying psychological models in the real world where structural and historical social divisions and vexing oppositional political questions can be transposed into new social and political orders.

Organizational Restructuring as a Catalyst for Cross-unit Ties

Despite the potentially significant economic value associated with cross-unit ties, many organizations struggle to foster effective informal collaboration across business units. Theory suggests that entrenched formal structures and social psychological preferences undermine the development of these important connections as informal ties tend to form within units rather than across units. As such, organizational restructuring may be a potent way to increase cross-unit ties. We develop a dialectic theory to explain how formal structural change interacts with individuals’ attitudes toward specific groups to explain changes in an individual’s cross-unit ties. We test our theory by measuring the cross-unit ties of senior leaders at a Fortune 200 agribusiness before and after a major restructuring. Our results show that certain changes to the formal structure enable the formation of new cross-unit ties, whereas other structure changes inhibit them. Additionally, individuals who identify with broad super-ordinate groups are more likely to form cross-unit ties, but only when involved in certain structure changes. This study has practical implications for managers planning a major change to the formal structure and theoretical implications for scholars, suggesting that understanding network change during periods of disruption can benefit from dialectic models that integrate top down theories of structural influence with bottom up theories of agency.

Medical identity in psychotherapy training: effect on medical practice

BackgroundMedical identity is formed intrapsychically and intrapersonally during training. Maintaining empathy in students and doctors in senior years is challenging. Empathy loss and use of defences may cause stress and...

Facing Europe

Individuals perceive their own group to be more typical of a shared superordinate identity than other groups are. This in-group projection process has been demonstrated with both self-report and indirect measures. The two studies reported here extend this research to the visual level, specifically, within the domain of faces. Using an innovative reverse-correlation approach, we found that German and Portuguese participants’ visual representations of European faces resembled the appearance typical for their own national identity. This effect was found even among participants who explicitly denied that one nation was more typical of Europe than the other (Study 1). Moreover, Study 2 provides experimental evidence that in-group projection is restricted to inclusive superordinate groups, as the effect was not observed for visual representations of a category (“Australian”) that did not include participants’ in-group. Implications for the in-group projection model, as well as for the applicability of reverse-correlation paradigms, are discussed.

‘Our way of life is worth defending’: testing a model of attitudes towards superordinate group membership through a study of Scots' attitudes towards Britain

AbstractThis research used a survey design (N = 227) to investigate Scottish people's support or opposition to independence from Britain. It was hypothesised that political attitudes towards supra‐national bodies are not a direct function of the degree of ingroup (Scottish) identification, but are moderated by the extent to which the expression of ingroup identity is seen as being undermined within the larger entity. This feeling of identity undermining is assumed to arise from perceptions of incompatibility with the outgroup and ingroup powerlessness within the common group. The results provided support for these hypotheses. Only for those participants who had high feelings of identity undermining did identification lead to stronger separatist attitudes. Moreover, incompatibility with the outgroup and ingroup powerlessness predicted feelings of identity undermining while this latter mediated their impact on attitudes to being part of Britain. These findings underline the importance of taking into account (a) the contents ascribed to identities and their relations, and (b) the practical ability to pursue a way of live based on these contents in order to understand the way identity processes shape attitudes towards superordinate groups. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Assessing the educational needs of community sexual healthcare practitioners

There is wide variation in the quality and nature of community sexual health service delivery in the UK, which has led to a number of professional and Government-led directives to improve service provision. One key target is the provision of appropriate training and updating of staff in order to maintain an appropriate skill level. To identify the educational development needs of community sexual health nursing and medical staff, preparatory to commissioning appropriate educational provision, a training needs analysis survey was conducted. This involved using a customised psychometrically valid and reliable instrument, which was administered to all relevant staff for self-completion. Fifty-four (67.5%) of all doctors and nurses working in a community sexual health directorate responded. For the whole sample, the following categories of development need were identified: professional development; research; legal issues; clinical practice; and communication/interpersonal skills. When the nursing and medical subsamples were analysed separately, the same generic training needs emerged, although the nurses and doctors identified 22 and 25 significant training needs, respectively. The reported skills deficits cluster into super-ordinate groups which resonate with other available literature. This suggests that each category could be reliably used to inform a short course or series of modules, either for the whole sample or for each professional group. The results also suggest that the instrument is viable for use with healthcare professionals working in this specialty. Consequently, if this approach to identifying skill deficits was adopted, limited educational budgets could be used to provide courses which would meet the real training needs of staff, and if offered as a shared learning opportunity, could promote multidisciplinary team-working. In this way, improved local healthcare provision could be readily realised, with the potential for reducing current variations in the quality of community sexual health provision.

Knowledge transfer between groups via personnel rotation: Effects of social identity and knowledge quality

The study examines the effects of social identity and knowledge quality on knowledge transfer across groups. One hundred and forty-four students performed a production task in three-person groups. Midway through the task, a member from a different group rotated into each group. The primary dependent variable was whether the group adopted the production routine of the rotating member. Analyses revealed the predicted main and interactive effects. Groups were more likely to adopt the routine of a rotator when they shared a superordinate social identity with that member than when they did not. Groups were also more likely to adopt a routine from a rotator when it was superior than when it was inferior to their own. Further, superordinate groups adopted the production routine of the rotator when it was superior but not inferior to their own, whereas groups that did not share a superordinate identity with the rotator generally did not adopt the rotator’s production routine, even when it was superior to their own and would have improved their performance.

Ethnic Conflict in Malaysia Revisited

The ethnic paradigm has dominated political science analysis of societal conflict in west Malaysia. This perspective regards socio-political tensions to be a function of the competition between the superordinate and subordinate ethnic groups in the authoritative allocation of values. Such an approach ignores the fact that ethnicity itself is a situational variable, and hence cannot be regarded as a constant in conflict analysis. In adopting such an approach, it is found that ethnic identity and ethnic-based conflict in west Malaysia were intricately linked to the survival and displacement of elites within the ruling regime. However, the intensity as well as the continuing utility of ethnic conflict for political purposes is in the process of steady decline. This has been the result of the continuous transformation in west Malaysia's domestic political system, which has also been influenced by the intrusive nature of the international environment.

Tactical apologia: The American nursing association and assisted suicide

Studies of apologia have typically focused on powerful individuals and institutions responding to charges from equally powerful opponents, the struggles between elites and counter‐elites. This essay argues that apologia may also be a tactic of resistance as subordinate groups answer the charges of superordinate groups. An examination of the American Nursing Association's response to research indicating many nurses had participated in assisted suicides suggests tactical apologias blend various postures of apologia and seek to confuse rather than dispel the accusatory situation.

When contact is not enough: Social identity and intergroup cooperation

Research on the “contact” hypothesis supports the conclusion that a necessary (if not sufficient) condition for reduction of intergroup conflict and prejudice is some form of cooperative interdependence in pursuit of common, superordinate goals. The apparent instability of cooperative arrangements among ethnic groups in the international arena challenges current social psychological theories of intergroup relations. Brewer's (1991) [Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475–482]theory of “optimal distinctiveness” provides an explanation for this instability of superordinate groups in terms of competing needs for inclusion and differentiation. Recent experimental research on cross-cutting social group identities and social roles suggests one model in which groups can maintain distinctiveness and mutual cooperation in the long run.

Changing representations of place, community, and character in the Spanish Sierra del Caurel

The peasants of the mountain interior of Spanish Galicia often represent themselves to powerful “outsiders” as a culturally marginal, degraded, or disadvan‐taged group. Their negative self‐portraits tend to reflect and inspire higher‐ranking Spaniards' appraisals of them as “uncivilized” people living in “primitive” environments. This article examines the interests, motives, and strategies that condition this dialogue between subordinate and superordinate groups as it develops in a particular community. The discussion focuses on three successive historical periods that evidence changes in villagers' interactions with state authorities, in their specific representations of themselves to outsiders, and in their perceptions of their place in Spanish society. [peasant‐state relations, representations of community, resistance and identity, Spanish Galicia, western Europe]

Memory modes and mathematics among technical and further education trade students

ABSTRACT The present study attempts to explain the performance of technical and further education (TAFE) students in trade mathematics within the framework of modes of memory. It replicates and extends an earlier study, the findings of which led to the hypothesis that difficulties experienced by TAFE trade students are due to their inability to use symbolic forms of memory coding rather than their inability to form mathematical sets or hierarchies of sets. Two sets of stimuli, namely, action pictures and verbal labels were presented to a group of fitting students in order to test their ability to form superordinate groups (sets) and hierarchies of superordinate groups (hierarchies of sets). It was predicted that students with a record of high achievement in mathematics would produce a higher level of superordinate groupings than low mathematics achievement students on the verbal labels task but that there would be no difference in the superordinate groupings between high and low mathematics achievement st...