scholarly journals Let’s not be indifferent about robots: Neutral ratings on bipolar measures mask ambivalence in attitudes towards robots

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244697
Author(s):  
Julia G. Stapels ◽  
Friederike Eyssel
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Method ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Current Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Attitude Research ◽  
Psychological Attitude ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
Negative Feelings

Ambivalence, the simultaneous experience of both positive and negative feelings about one and the same attitude object, has been investigated within psychological attitude research for decades. Ambivalence is interpreted as an attitudinal conflict with distinct affective, behavioral, and cognitive consequences. In social psychological research, it has been shown that ambivalence is sometimes confused with neutrality due to the use of measures that cannot distinguish between neutrality and ambivalence. Likewise, in social robotics research the attitudes of users are often characterized as neutral. We assume that this is due to the fact that existing research regarding attitudes towards robots lacks the opportunity to measure ambivalence. In the current experiment (N = 45), we show that a neutral and a robot stimulus were evaluated equivalently when using a bipolar item, but evaluations differed greatly regarding self-reported ambivalence and arousal. This points to attitudes towards robots being in fact highly ambivalent, although they might appear neutral depending on the measurement method. To gain valid insights into people’s attitudes towards robots, positive and negative evaluations of robots should be measured separately, providing participants with measures to express evaluative conflict instead of administering bipolar items. Acknowledging the role of ambivalence in attitude research focusing on robots has the potential to deepen our understanding of users’ attitudes and their potential evaluative conflicts, and thus improve predictions of behavior from attitudes towards robots.

A Nonconformist Account of the Asch Experiments: Values, Pragmatics, and Moral Dilemmas

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert H. Hodges ◽  
Anne L. Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Group Survival ◽  
Social Psychological Research

This article offers a new approach to Asch's (1956) influential studies relating physical and social perception. Drawing on research on values, conversational pragmatics, cross-cultural comparisons, and negotiation, the authors challenge the normative assumptions that have led psychologists to interpret the studies in terms of conformity. A values-pragmatics account is offered that suggests that participants attempt to realize multiple values (e.g., truth, social solidarity) in an inherently frustrating situation by tacitly varying patterns of dissent and agreement to communicate larger scale truths and cooperative intentions. Alternative theories (e.g., embarrassment, attribution) are compared and empirical implications of the values-pragmatics account are evaluated. The possibility of multiple strategies promoting group survival and the proper role of moral evaluation in social psychological research are considered.

scholarly journals Datasets from a research project examining the role of politics in social psychological research

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Viganola ◽  
Orly Eitan ◽  
Yoel Inbar ◽  
Anna Dreber ◽  
Magnus Johannesson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Social Psychological Research

scholarly journals Rethinking human-animal relations: The critical role of social psychology

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 769-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristof Dhont ◽  
Gordon Hodson ◽  
Steve Loughnan ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Human Animal

People deeply value their social bonds with companion animals, yet routinely devalue other animals, considering them mere commodities to satisfy human interests and desires. Despite the inherently social and intergroup nature of these complexities, social psychology is long overdue in integrating human-animal relations in its theoretical frameworks. The present body of work brings together social psychological research advancing our understanding of: 1) the factors shaping our perceptions and thinking about animals as social groups, 2) the complexities involved in valuing (caring) and devaluing (exploiting) animals, and 3) the implications and importance of human-animal relations for human intergroup relations. In this article, we survey the diversity of research paradigms and theoretical frameworks developed within the intergroup relations literature that are relevant, perchance critical, to the study of human-animal relations. Furthermore, we highlight how understanding and rethinking human-animal relations will eventually lead to a more comprehensive understanding of many human intergroup phenomena.

Introduction to The Social Psychology of Collective Victimhood

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Johanna Ray Vollhardt
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Collective Victimhood ◽  
Level Of Analysis

This chapter introduces the volume and gives a brief overview of its structure and the content of each chapter. The chapter describes the nature of social psychological research on collective victimhood to date, defines the concept, and provides an organizing framework for scholarship on collective victimhood. This framework emphasizes the interplay of structural and individual-level factors that need to be considered, as well as how the social psychology of collective victimhood is studied at the micro-, meso-, and macro level of analysis. In order to avoid a determinist and simplistic view of collective victimhood, it is crucial to consider the different ways in which people actively construe and make sense of collective victimization of their group(s). It is also important to consider the role of power, history, and other structural factors that together shape the diversity of experiences of collective victimization as well as the consequences of collective victimhood.

scholarly journals Science skepticism in times of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastiaan T. Rutjens ◽  
Sander van der Linden ◽  
Romy van der Lee
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychology Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Related Science ◽  
Potential Vaccine ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Conspiracy Thinking

In the current paper, we argue that to get a better understanding of the psychological antecedents of COVID-related science skepticism, it is pivotal to review what is known about the (social) psychology of science skepticism. Recent research highlighting the role of ideologies and worldviews in shaping science skepticism can inform research questions as well as pandemic responses to COVID-19. It is likely that the antecedents of general COVID-19-related skepticism substantially overlap with the antecedents of climate change skepticism. Additionally, skepticism about a potential vaccine in particular will likely be fueled by similar worries and misperceptions to those shaping more general antivaccination attitudes, of which conspiracy thinking is particularly worth highlighting. We conclude by reflecting on how the COVID-19 crisis may shape future social-psychological research aimed at understanding trust in science and science skepticism.

Rethinking the Link Between Categorization and Prejudice Within the Social Cognition Perspective

2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Park ◽  
Charles M. Judd
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Psychological Research

For the past 40 years, social psychological research on stereotyping and prejudice in the United States has been dominated by the social cognition perspective, which has emphasized the important role of basic categorization processes in intergroup dynamics. An inadvertent consequence of this approach has been a disproportionate focus on social categorization as a causal factor in intergroup animosity and, accordingly, an emphasis on approaches that minimize category distinctions as the solution to intergroup conflict. Though recognizing the crucial function of categorization, we question existing support for the hypothesis that the perception of strong group differences necessarily results in greater intergroup bias. Given that it is neither feasible nor ultimately desirable to imagine that social categories can be eliminated, we suggest that a more useful approach is one that promotes intergroup harmony even while recognizing and valuing the distinctions that define our social world.

Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Situational Effect

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

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