In two experiments, the authors found that providing feedback to European American participants that others held different beliefs about African Americans than they originally estimated significantly ...changed the beliefs that they held about that group. The observed changes were stronger for people who were exposed to information about the opinions of ingroup rather than outgroup members and persisted when measured in an unrelated experimental session held 1 week later. The authors also found in a third experiment that providing information that others agreed with the individual’s own racial stereotypes bolstered them such that they were more resistant to subsequent change attempts. Taken together, the results suggest that learning about the racial beliefs of others has the potential to either produce or inhibit stereotype change.
Past research has demonstrated the powerful influence other people
have on the thoughts and behaviors of individuals. However, the
study of intergroup attitudes has focused primarily on the influence ...of direct
exposure to out-group members as determinants of stereotypes and
prejudice. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that learning that
others share one's intergroup beliefs influences intergroup attitudes and
behavior as well as stereotype representation. Experiment 1 demonstrated
that learning that one's beliefs are shared or not shared with others
influences attitudes, behavior, and the strength of the
attitude-behavior relationship. Experiment 2 demonstrated a
potential mechanism for such effects by showing that learning about whether
others share one's stereotypes influences the accessibility of those
stereotypes and related stereotypes.
Three studies demonstrated that optimism increased women's plans to confront gender discrimination. Furthermore, these studies showed that this relation was not a result of attributions to ...discrimination or perceptions of discriminatory events. Rather, as demonstrated in Study 3, the reason optimists were more likely to indicate that they would confront sexism was that they take an active approach to dealing with discriminatory feedback and expect to have successful outcomes in confronting their perpetrator.
The Skinny on Celebrities Young, Ariana F.; Gabriel, Shira; Sechrist, Gretchen B.
Social psychological & personality science,
11/2012, Letnik:
3, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Much research demonstrates that exposure to thin media ideals has a negative effect on women’s body image. The present research suggests a notable and important exception to this rule. The authors ...propose the parasocial relationship-moderation hypothesis—that parasocial, or one-sided, relationships (PSRs) moderate the effects of thin media figures on body image. Specifically, the authors propose that having a PSR with a media figure increases the likelihood of assimilating, rather than contrasting, the PSR’s body to the self. Study 1 found that women who perceived similarity with a thin model felt better about their bodies than those who did not perceive similarity. Study 2 found that women were more satisfied with their bodies after exposure to a favorite celebrity they perceived as thin than a control celebrity they perceived as thin. Finally, Study 3 suggests that assimilation was the underlying mechanism of increased body satisfaction after exposure to a thin favorite celebrity.
Two experiments examined how the goals of self-presentation and maintenance of control over one's outcomes influence women's tendencies to make or to avoid making attributions to discrimination. ...Demonstrating the importance of self-presentational goals, Experiment 1 showed that targets of discrimination were just as likely as similar others to make attributions to discrimination under private reporting conditions, but they were significantly less likely to do so under public reporting conditions. This experiment also provided initial evidence that need for personal control increases discrimination attributions. Experiment 2 demonstrated that targets' minimization of discrimination, observed in public reporting conditions, was eliminated when the need to reassert personal control was induced. Both experiments also demonstrated that failing to view events as discrimination has negative psychological costs.
Four experiments examined how an actor's intent and the harm experienced by a target influence judgments of prejudice and discrimination. The presence of intent increased the likelihood that ...participants judged an actor as prejudiced and the actor's behavior as discriminatory. When intent was uncertain, harm influenced judgments of the behavior, which in turn influenced judgments of the actor, and participants were more cautious in their judgments about an actor than an actor's behavior. Harm also played a stronger role in targets' than observers' judgments. Understanding the role of intent and harm on perceptions of prejudice can help explain variations in targets' versus observers', and possibly targets' versus actors', judgments of discrimination and prejudice.
Two experiments examined the effects of discrimination source on men’s and women’s willingness to make attributions to a sexist experimenter or sexist rules. Students (161 male; 171 females) at a US ...university were exposed to a discriminatory person, discriminatory rule, or no discrimination. “
Experiment 1
” demonstrated individuals were less likely to make attributions to a sexist person than an unfair rule, and women were especially reluctant to indicate a person was responsible for their discrimination even when a person was the source. “
Experiment 2
” showed participants were less likely to indicate an experimenter, and even a rule, was sexist when there was a cost to the perpetrator (i.e., advisor would be notified of the perpetrator’s actions) for making such attributions.
Two studies examined the role of ingroup identification in the influence of social consensus information (information about others' beliefs) on intergroup attitudes. Research demonstrates that ...consensus information influences individuals' intergroup attitudes. However, the extent to which individuals identify with the group providing consensus information seems important to understanding consensus effects. In Study 1, 100 high or low ingroup identifiers received information that other ingroup members held favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward African Americans and then provided their own attitudes. In Study 2, 250 participants completed an ingroup identification manipulation (high, low, or control) before receiving favorable or no consensus information. Results of both studies demonstrated that ingroup identification moderated consensus effects, such that high identifiers were more susceptible to others' beliefs than individuals in the low identification and control conditions. In determining critical factors involved in consensus effects, we hope to create a useful method to promote favorable intergroup attitudes and behaviors.
The authors tested the hypothesis that members of stigmatized groups would be unwilling to report that negative events that occur to them are the result of discrimination when they are in the ...presence of members of a nonstigmatized group. Supporting this hypothesis, women and African Americans were more likely to report that a failing grade assigned by a man or a European American was caused by discrimination, rather than by their own lack of ability, when they made the judgment privately and in the presence of a fellow stigmatized group member. However, they were more likely to indicate that the cause of the failure was lack of ability, rather than discrimination, when they expected to make these judgments aloud in the presence of a nonstigmatized group member.
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