Research on intergroup contact suggests that contact relates more strongly to affective than cognitive dimensions of prejudice. However, work on these forms of prejudice focuses primarily on positive ...contact experiences. One goal of this study is to examine whether positive and negative contact experiences differentially predict affective and cognitive dimensions of prejudice. The second goal is to examine intergroup threats as mediators of contact–prejudice relationships. Results demonstrated that negative contact more strongly predicted cognitive dimensions of prejudice such as stereotypes. Both types of contact were similarly predictive of affective dimensions of prejudice. The mediation of the negative contact–prejudice relationship was stronger across all dependent measures than mediation of the positive contact–prejudice relationship. Together these results suggest that either form of contact predicts affective prejudice but negative contact is particularly important in explaining cognitive dimensions of prejudice. Additionally, results suggest an important role for feelings of threat in explaining contact–prejudice relationships.
This work examines relationships between friendships and implicit preferences across two large samples. There is considerable evidence in the contact literature suggesting that friendships relate to ...more favorable attitudes toward outgroups, however, most evidence reflects explicit self-report measures. Using samples of 235,543 participants who completed the Disability IAT and 533,220 participants who completed the Sexuality IAT on the Project Implicit website, results indicate that participants reporting either a disabled friend or close acquaintance demonstrated weaker implicit preferences for abled over disabled people. Similarly, those with gay friends demonstrated weaker implicit preference for "straight" over gay. The size of these relationships were considerably smaller than found for explicit evaluations. These effect size estimates should be useful to researchers studying contact-implicit preference relationships as it informs power analyses and sample size planning decisions.
The present study examines predictors of support for ethnicity-based affirmative action (AA) in college admissions. There is considerable work focused on predicting support for AA policies in ...employment, but there is comparative dearth of knowledge about reactions to AA in education. This work applies existing models of support for AA that include beliefs about AA policies (fairness, merit, diversity valuation, and prevalence of discrimination) and individual characteristics (sex, political orientation, and self-interest). White (
n
= 413) and Hispanic (
n
= 343) college students completed measures of the model predictors and reactions to a general AA policy and several specific policies (e.g., recruitment of minority applicants, different standards for admission). Regarding the general policy, those who more strongly valued diversity in educational setting and believed discrimination still existed indicated stronger support for general AA policy. Surprisingly, fairness, merit, gender, and political orientation did not uniquely predict support in either sample. Self-interest related to greater support for Hispanic participants only. Across specific policy applications, diversity valuation and recognition of ongoing discrimination were the also most consistent predictors. Findings highlight that models of support for AA in hiring may not be wholly applicable in predicting support for AA in educational admissions.
This meta-analysis examines propositions derived from
Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT; Stephan, Ybarra, & Morrison, 2009) regarding the role of
symbolic and realistic threats on the relationship ...between contact and
prejudice. Specifically, analyses examined whether threat has an indirect effect
on the contact-prejudice relationship (aka mediation). Thirty-nine papers
comprising 54 samples and over 25,000 participants provided 347 effects for
analysis. Supporting ITT predictions, results clearly demonstrated the presence
of an indirect effect. Tests of several moderators, including type of contact
measure, type of threat, dimension of prejudice, and target of bias suggest that
indirect effects are largely consistent across each domain of comparison.
Findings are consistent with ITT's propositions that contact influences
threat and feelings of threat lead to prejudice.
The present study examines the relationship between self-reported friendships with Blacks and implicit preferences for Whites relative to Blacks. There is considerable evidence that friendships ...relate to more favorable attitudes toward outgroups, however, the bulk of this evidence comes from explicit self-report measures. Using a sample of 123,445 participants that completed a Black-White IAT on the Project Implicit website, results indicate that participants reporting either childhood or post-childhood friendships with Blacks demonstrated weaker implicit preferences for Whites over Blacks. The size of this relationship was substantially smaller than found for explicit evaluations of Blacks.
Academic Abstract
In the wake of the replication crisis, social and personality psychologists have increased attention to power analysis and the adequacy of sample sizes. In this article, we analyze ...current controversies in this area, including choosing effect sizes, why and whether power analyses should be conducted on already-collected data, how to mitigate the negative effects of sample size criteria on specific kinds of research, and which power criterion to use. For novel research questions, we advocate that researchers base sample sizes on effects that are likely to be cost-effective for other people to implement (in applied settings) or to study (in basic research settings), given the limitations of interest-based minimums or field-wide effect sizes. We discuss two alternatives to power analysis, precision analysis and sequential analysis, and end with recommendations for improving the practices of researchers, reviewers, and journal editors in social-personality psychology.
Public Abstract
Recently, social-personality psychology has been criticized for basing some of its conclusions on studies with low numbers of participants. As a result, power analysis, a mathematical way to ensure that a study has enough participants to reliably “detect” a given size of psychological effect, has become popular. This article describes power analysis and discusses some controversies about it, including how researchers should derive assumptions about effect size, and how the requirements of power analysis can be applied without harming research on hard-to-reach and marginalized communities. For novel research questions, we advocate that researchers base sample sizes on effects that are likely to be cost-effective for other people to implement (in applied settings) or to study (in basic research settings). We discuss two alternatives to power analysis, precision analysis and sequential analysis, and end with recommendations for improving the practices of researchers, reviewers, and journal editors in social-personality psychology.
Postprandial glucose levels between 4 and 7.9 h (PPG4–7.9h) correlate with mortality from various diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This study aimed to ...assess if predicted PPG4–7.9h could diagnose diabetes. Two groups of participants were involved: Group 1 (4420 participants) had actual PPG4–7.9h, while Group 2 (8422 participants) lacked this measure but had all the diabetes diagnostic measures. Group 1 underwent multiple linear regression to predict PPG4–7.9h using 30 predictors, achieving accuracy within 11.1 mg/dL in 80% of the participants. Group 2 had PPG4–7.9h predicted using this model. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that predicted PPG4–7.9h could diagnose diabetes with an accuracy of 87.3% in Group 2, with a sensitivity of 75.1% and specificity of 84.1% at the optimal cutoff of 102.5 mg/dL. A simulation on 10,000 random samples from Group 2 revealed that 175 participants may be needed to investigate PPG4–7.9h as a diabetes diagnostic marker with a power of at least 80%. In conclusion, predicted PPG4–7.9h appears to be a promising diagnostic indicator for diabetes. Future studies seeking to ascertain its definitive diagnostic value might require a minimum sample size of 175 participants.
This comment addresses inconsistencies in Croucher (2013) that, taken as a whole, suggest that the results presented in the paper are implausible. Specifically, I address how the direction of ...relationships is opposite that found in the vast majority of work focused on the relationship between contact experiences and threat. Additionally, the magnitude of observed relationships falls well outside those observed in previous studies. Finally, I demonstrate that reported correlations produce impossible relationships between variables, suggesting substantial errors in the presentation of results.
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