scholarly journals The Power of Conformity in Citizens’ Blame: Evidence from a Survey Experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Sievert ◽  
Dominik Vogel ◽  
Tim Reinders ◽  
Waqar Ahmed

The authors examine whether conformity towards prevailing public opinions and pre-existing blame influences citizens’ attribution of blame for public service failure, by using a between-group experimental design with five groups. Two groups received information cues mentioning different public opinions. Two additional groups received information on pre-existing blame or the absence of such blame. One control group did not receive any information. The empirical analysis reveals that public opinion in favor of blame leads to increased blame attribution, while a contrary public opinion decreases citizens’ blame. Likewise, the expected increase in citizens’ blame resulting from pre-existing blame is supported. However, the absence of blame has no effect. Overall, the experiment supports the impact of conformity on citizens' blame. In addition, the literature on citizens’ blame is extended by utilizing a citizen-centered perspective and taking social psychological theory into account.

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1314-1331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shangzhi (Charles) Qiu ◽  
Mimi Li ◽  
Anna S. Mattila ◽  
Wan Yang

Purpose This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of in-group social presence on the relationship between face concern and hotel customers’ behavioral responses to service failures. Design/methodology/approach Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions: in-group presence vs control group. They read a scenario describing a hotel check-in service failure and answered questions regarding their behavioral intention after the failure and level of face concern. Findings The results indicate that face concern is positively associated with the intention to voice a complaint, to spread negative word-of-mouth and to post negative online reviews. While the impact of face concern on complaint intention became insignificant in the presence of an in-group, its effect on posting negative online reviews was enhanced when surrounded by an in-group. Research limitations/implications It addresses the long-lasting debate about the association between face concern and various types of behavioral responses to service failure. Practically, extra attention should be paid to the process quality when serving face concerned customers, particularly when they are accompanied by important others. Originality/value This study enriches the literature on cultural effects by identifying the situational effect of face concern on customers’ service failure responses. A model that describes the situational effect of face concern on different types of behavioral intention has been built.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricio Saavedra ◽  
John Drury

Previous social-psychological research has neglected the impact of public opinion’s legitimisation of protests on non-participants’ support for protesters’ self-defence actions. In two experiments, involving English adults as participants, we combined vignettes describing various extents of public opinion legitimisation of protests with footage of police repression during a student protest in England (Study 1; N = 151), and against pro-independence demonstrators in Catalonia (Study 2; N = 150). Results demonstrated that solidarity with protesters mediates the relationship between public opinion’s legitimisation of protests and non-participants’ support for protesters’ self-defence actions against the police. However, we found distinctive patterns for each scenario. Whereas people showed solidarity with protesters when English public opinion delegitimised the student protest, the same happened regarding the protest in Catalonia only when English public opinion gave legitimacy to the pro-independence movement. Also, we found that own opinions about the right to protest play an essential role in feeling solidarity with victims of police repression and support for protesters’ self-defence actions


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 219-223
Author(s):  
I. V. Trefanenko ◽  
◽  
O. V. Solovyova ◽  
S. I. Hrechko ◽  
T. V. Reva ◽  
...  

Studying in medical higher education institutions has always been quite challenging and requires the involvement of various student reserves. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes to the life of society in general and the educational process in particular. Teachers and students of all educational institutions had to switch from working in classrooms to working remotely. All these factors create certain stressful circumstances, so it requires including all adaptive capabilities from each individual. The purpose of the study was to compare socio-psychological adaptation of students who studied in classroom with those forced to practice remotely for more than a year. Materials and methods. One hundred forty-eight completed questionnaires based on the questionnaire of K. Rogers and R. Diamond were processed. The control group consisted of 56 students – these are the answers of students who studied in the 6th year in their classroom during the 2017-2018 academic year. The experimental group included 92 questionnaires of students who worked on the 6th year remotely in the period from spring 2020 to spring 2021. Results and discussion. The study found that the adaptation of students in both groups at an intermediate level was 86% and 78%, respectively. The analysis results show the impact of the third crisis period of study (respectively, 1, 3, and 6 years) on the student. In the 2nd group, we received a figure by 8% lower for the control group. In the control group, the indicator of internality (perception of changes occurring to them due to their activities) did not differ. The transition to distance learning in its average value does not change it significantly. Emotional comfort in the experimental group of students was 12% higher than in the control group. The data obtained in the control group indicate an almost equal percentage of self-perception and perception of others. Students show a friendly attitude to classmates, the environment, a positive attitude towards others. The experimental group students show a positive pole of self-perception, which reflects the degree of self-friendliness. The lower rate of desire for dominance in distance learning students is probably due to the commitment to work in a team. Conclusion. Thus, students who have switched to an entirely new type of education have deviations in the socio-psychological adaptation. The adaptation of students tended to decrease, which indicates the need for additional time to adapt to new conditions and may affect the level of learning. Comparing students of online and offline forms of education revealed differences in the frequency and structure of deviations of social-psychological adaptation. Violations of social-psychological adaptation in distance learning are represented by low scores of its essential characteristics: adaptation, internality, the desire for dominance against the background of increasing self-perception and emotional comfort


1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy R. Johnson ◽  
Andrew D. Martin

To investigate the effect of the Supreme Court on public opinion, we offer the conditional response hypothesis based on a theory of Supreme Court legitimacy and a microlevel social-psychological theory of attitude formation. Together these theories predict that the Court may affect public opinion when it initially rules on a salient issue, but that subsequent decisions on the same issue will have little influence on opinion. To test our predictions, we analyze public opinion data before and after the Supreme Court ruled in a highly visible abortion case (Webster v. Reproductive Health Services [1989]) and before and after three key capital punishment rulings (Furman v. Georgia [1972], Gregg v. Georgia [1976], and McCleskey v. Kemp [1987]). The results suggest that our theory is not issue bound but is generally applicable to how the Supreme Court affects public opinion when it rules in highly salient cases.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hansen ◽  
Tom Postmes ◽  
Nikita van der Vinne ◽  
Wendy van Thiel

This paper studies whether and how information and communication technology (ICT) changes self-construal and cultural values in a developing country. Ethiopian children were given laptops in the context of an ICT for development scheme. We compared children who used laptops (n = 69) with a control group without laptops (n = 76) and a second control group of children whose laptop had broken down (n = 24). Results confirmed that after 1 year of laptop usage, the children’s self-concept had become more independent and children endorsed individualist values more strongly. Interestingly, the impact of laptop usage on cultural values was mediated by self-construal (moderated mediation). Importantly, modernization did not “crowd out” traditional culture: ICT usage was not associated with a reduction in traditional expressions (interdependent self-construal, collectivist values). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Florian Arendt

A test was done to see if reading a newspaper which consistently overrepresents foreigners as criminals strengthens the automatic association between foreign country and criminal in memory (i.e., implicit cultivation). Further, an investigation was done to find out if reading articles from the same newspaper produces a short-term effect on the same measure and if (1) emotionalization of the newspaper texts, (2) emotional reactions of the reader (indicated by arousal), and (3) attributed text credibility moderate the short-term treatment effect. Eighty-five participants were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Participants in the control group received short factual crime texts, where the nationality of the offender was not mentioned. Participants in the factual treatment group received the same texts, but the foreign nationality was mentioned. Participants in the emotionalized treatment group received emotionalized articles (i.e., texts which are high in vividness and frequency) covering the same crimes, with the foreign nationality mentioned. Supporting empirical evidence for implicit cultivation and a short-term effect was found. However, only emotionalized articles produced a short-term effect on the strength of the automatic association, indicating that newspaper texts must have a minimum of stimulus intensity to overcome an effect threshold. There were no moderating effects of arousal or credibility pertaining to the impact on the implicit measure. However, credibility moderated the short-term effect on a first-order judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of foreigners of all criminals). This indicates that a newspaper’s effect on the strength of automatic associations is relatively independent from processes of propositional reasoning.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran

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.


1981 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 611-612
Author(s):  
Stephen G. West ◽  
Anne Maass

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