Social norms in general have an important role in the regulation of intergroup relations. However, the effects of one specific type of social norms-in-group norms about intergroup contact-have not ...yet been extensively studied, especially among groups of different status or in different intergroup contexts. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of three types of contact norms (peer, parental and school) on four intergroup outcomes (in-group bias, social distance, tendency to discriminate, prosocial behaviour towards the outgroup) among ethnic majority and minority adolescents from four different intergroup contexts of the Republic of Croatia, as well as to test for moderating effects of age, social status and intergroup context in the strength of these effects. The research was carried out on a sample of 1440 elementary and high school students, members of Croatian majority, and Serbian, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian minority. The results indicated that although all three types of norms predict most of the intergroup outcomes, their relative importance depends on the specific type of intergroup outcome (attitudinal or behavioural), group social status (majority or minority), intergroup context (history of a recent intergroup conflict or not), and for peer norms on the age of the adolescent.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to numerous new conspiracy theories related to the virus. This study aimed to investigate a range of individual predictors of beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy ...theories that account for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, economic standard, the importance of religion, and political self-identification), distinctive motivational orientations (social dominance and authoritarianism), relevant social attitudes (sense of political powerlessness and trust in science and scientists), and perceived personal risk (perceived risk for self and family members, the concern of being infected, and the expected influence of pandemic on the economic standard of an individual). Participants were 1,060 adults recruited from the general public of Croatia. The sample was a probabilistic quota sample with gender, age, level of education, size of the dwelling, and region of the country as predetermined quotas. The regression model explained 42.2% of the individual differences in beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Trust in science and scientists and political powerlessness were the strongest predictors, whereas fear of being infected had the weakest contribution in explaining the variance of the criterion. Additionally, results revealed that the relation of conventionalism (as a proxy of authoritarianism) with belief in COVID-19 conspiracies was mediated by trust in science and scientists. The relation between social dominance and belief in conspiracies was also partially mediated by trust in science. The results suggest that (re)building trust in science and lowering the sense of political helplessness might help in fighting potentially harmful false beliefs about the pandemic.
Existing research on the education of refugee children has been conducted in countries with a longstanding tradition of refugee integration. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the ...integration process of refugee children in Croatian schools. Croatia is a small EU country with limited experience in refugee integration. The phenomenological approach was used to examine the experiences and perspectives of the relevant actors. Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with refugee children (N = 15), their parents (N = 5), classmates (N = 50), and school staff (N = 54) from six elementary schools in Zagreb. Data analyses suggested three general needs: educational, language, and social, each of them connected to more specific needs, challenges, and suggestions. The results of the study are discussed within the Schachner et al. (
2017
) framework of immigrant adolescents' acculturation.
Repairing broken intergroup relations after conflict is a challenging process that becomes particularly complex when perpetrators and victims continue to live in the same community. In the present ...study, we have asked participants from different sides of the 1991-1995 conflict in Croatia to disentangle their understanding of apology and forgiveness 20 years after the war. We conducted focus groups with people who suffered war-related personal losses, those with no such losses, and young adults born after the conflict. The major research question was as follows: How do different community actors understand intergroup apology and forgiveness and its relevance for the peaceful future in the postconflict ethnically mixed communities? A total of 65 persons participated in 11 focus groups (36 Serbs and 29 Croats; 35 women and 30 men; aged 20-78 years) who had lived in two ethnically mixed towns (Knin and Vukovar) before and during the war. Our results showed no substantial differences in how people with different experiences or from different sides of conflict understood intergroup apology and forgiveness. However, the meaningfulness of apology-forgiveness cycles was impaired by mistrust in the sincerity of apologies and by strong differences in opinions about preconditions for intergroup apology and forgiveness between two ethnic groups. Our results show that an outright apology and forgiveness may not be necessary for the communities that suffered mutual massive violence. Rather, exchange of mutual social gestures showing readiness for contact and moving on with everyday living could be more constructive ways for community social reconstruction.
Public Significance Statement
In this study, we elaborate on how people from different sides of conflict, with different experiences and from different generations understand the concepts of intergroup apology and forgiveness after the conflict and their relevance for future community intergroup relations. The results confirmed the complexity of phenomena and emotional, cognitive, and motivational challenges operating in considering common future and social recovery among community members.
Preparing host-society children for contact with refugees coming into their classes poses a new and important challenge for countries with little prior experience in integration. Imagined contact is ...a prejudice-reduction intervention that can be particularly useful in this context. However, its long-term effects and potential age-related variations in its efficacy among primary school children remain understudied.
This study investigated the short-term and long-term effects of an imagined contact school intervention on the change in attitudes and contact intentions of 1,544 children aged 7-15. Of these, 827 participated in a four-session-long intervention delivered by their teachers within their regular classes, while 717 served as a comparison group. Short-term effects were assessed approximately one week after the last intervention session, with long-term effects evaluated around two and a half months later.
Our findings indicate that the imagined contact intervention instigates positive changes in intergroup attitudes and contact intentions in both the short term and long term, but only for the children in the lower grades of primary school.
While the durability of these effects among younger participants holds promise for future use of imagined contact in schools, we also scrutinize potential developmental and methodological explanations of the absence of expected intervention effects among older children.
The aim of this research conducted on a sample of 163 teachers from elementary schools in Zagreb attended by refugee students was to assess the individual contribution of ethnic identity, general and ...ethnocultural empathy, direct contact and school climate on teacher's acculturation expectations from refugee students. The first hypothesis stated that ethnic identity would be negative, while general and ethnocultural empathy, contact and school climate would be positive predictors of integration expectations. The second hypothesis stated that all the predictors would negatively predict assimilation expectations. The results indicate that increased ethnocultural empathy and school climate predict increased expectation of integration, while contrary to the hypothesis, increased school climate positively predicts acculturation expectations of assimilation. The research's insights indicate that ethnocultural empathy and school climate can explain intergroup relations between Croatian teachers and refugee students and can help in preparing Croatian teachers for teaching refugee students.
Links between competitive victimhood and discrimination are well documented. However, the mechanisms how victimhood beliefs remain relevant for decades and how conflict survivors can shape attitudes ...and behaviours of the post‐conflict generations are little understood. Following the Transgenerational Transmission Hypothesis and the Integrated Threat Theory, we propose that the link between parental competitive victimhood and discrimination among their children is mediated through family ethnic socialization and symbolic threat to the in‐group. Participants were families that included youth (N = 227) and their parents (172 mothers, 150 fathers) in Vukovar, Croatia. A multiple group, chain mediation model was conducted with parental competitive victimhood as the predictor; youth ethnic socialization and symbolic threat as sequential mediators; and youth tendency to discriminate against the outgroup and perceived ethnic in‐group discrimination as outcomes. The findings revealed significant indirect effects of the competitive victimhood on both outcomes, via the proposed mediators. The only difference in the model between majority Croats and minority Serbs was the path from symbolic threat to tendency to discriminate, which was positive and significant for both groups, but stronger among Croats. The findings imply that interventions in post‐conflict settings need to address family ethnic socialization processes in addition to directly working with youth.
Low levels of trust in institutions in a post-socialist context is a relatively well-documented finding across various disciplines. Building upon this, the paper adds new insights to this discussion ...by contextualizing institutional trust amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia. Relying on the results from the national probabilistic sample, the authors explore how three sets of predictors - socio-demographic variables, individual characteristics (i.e., motivational orientations of authoritarianism and social dominance), and participants' experiences during the coronavirus pandemic determine the level of trust in public institutions. Results unequivocally showcase a fairly weak relationship between authoritarianism and social dominance orientation with institutional trust, unlike situational experiences, which play the most significant role in explaining levels of institutional trust. Contrary to authors' expectations, adherence to measures and worries about catching the COVID-19 disease in the future were not predictive for institutional trust.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
One Size Does Not Fit All Uzelac, Ena; Kapović, Iva; Jelić, Margareta ...
Social psychology (Göttingen, Germany),
09/2022, Letnik:
53, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This study compared attitudes toward multiculturalism and
assimilationism among three ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, and Hungarians) in two
neighboring countries (Croatia and Serbia). Additionally, ...this study examined
the predictive role of ethnic identity on aforementioned attitudes directly and
indirectly via symbolic threat. The results showed that Croats and Serbs had
less positive multicultural and more positive assimilationist attitudes when in
a majority position than when in a minority position. Hungarians, a minority in
both countries, did not differ between countries. Additionally, symbolic threat
mediated the relationship between ethnic identification and both assimilation
and multiculturalism only in Croatia. The group status moderated these effects.
Our findings confirm the importance of group's status and national context
in understanding the majority-minority intergroup dynamic.
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