scholarly journals Prejudice Reduction and Collective Action: A Conflict or Confluence of Interests?

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas B. Mazur
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Social Psychological Research

There is a growing body of research findings suggesting that prejudice reduction strategies can have unintended negative consequences, particularly by helping to stabilize systems of inequality. In light of these findings, a handful of scholars have suggested that the field be guided less by the prejudice reduction tradition, so as to focus more on collective action. While agreeing with the recent critiques of prejudice reduction, I argue that in more robustly embracing a collective action approach we should be careful not to abandon the notion of perceptualism that colored original thinking on prejudice reduction, lest we artificially narrow the scope of social psychological research and unintentionally ignore communities that do not fit well within current thinking in the collective action tradition.

scholarly journals Multilingualism and Out-Group Acceptance: The Mediating Roles of Cognitive Flexibility and Deprovincialization

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran Douglas Mepham ◽  
Borja Martinovic
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Group Acceptance

In this research, we systematically study multilingualism as a predictor of acceptance of ethnic out-groups. It is argued that people who speak more languages are more cognitively flexible, that is, they have an enhanced flexibility in understanding and representing information. Higher cognitive flexibility is in turn expected to be related to higher deprovincialization: a reevaluation of one’s ethnocentric worldview. Deprovincialization is then expected to result in more openness toward ethnic out-groups, evidenced by a more inclusive notion of the national identity and reduced out-group dislike. Cross-sectional survey data among a representative sample of native Dutch participants from the Netherlands ( N = 792) provide convincing support for these hypotheses and show that multilingualism is an important yet understudied factor in social–psychological research on prejudice reduction.

Social Categories and Business Ethics

ruffin_darden ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 149-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Messick ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
People Group ◽  
Ingroup Favoritism

In this article, I want to draw attention to one strand ofthe complex web of processes that are involved when people group others, including themselves, into social categories. I will focus on the tendency to treat members of one's own group more favorably than nonmembers, a tendency that has been called ingroup favoritism. The structure of the article has three parts. First I will offer anevolutionary argument as to why ingroup favoritism, or something very much like it, is required by theories of the evolution of altruism. I will then review some of the basic social psychological research findings dealing with social categorization generally, and ingroup favoritism specifically. Finally, I will examine two problems in business ethics from the point of view of ingroup favoritism to suggest ways in which social psychological principles and findings may be mobilized to help solve problems of racial or gender discrimination in business contexts.

Narrative Approaches within a Social Psychology of Social Justice: The Potential Utility of Narrative Evidence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Frost
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Narrative Research ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Social Psychological Research

This chapter illustrates the utility of narrative approaches within the social psychological study of social justice. By providing an overview of narrative approaches within social psychology, the potential for narrative research to generate knowledge of interest to social justice researchers is highlighted. In efforts to further promote the utility of narrative approaches in social justice research, the concept of narrative evidence is introduced in order to encourage the translation of knowledge gained from social psychological research on social justice concerns into attempts to inform and provoke social change. An illustrative example is discussed drawn from the author’s own research. The work of translating narrative research findings into narrative evidence is an important next step within a social psychology of social justice that seeks to produce knowledge of social justice concerns and has the potential to inform and inspire social change efforts.

The Discourse of Gender and Sport: From Femininity to Feminism

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ann Hall
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Theoretical Category ◽  
Sociological Discourse

The argument presented here is that the sociological discourse of gender and sport, in other words the way the topic is approached, the assumptions surrounding its investigation, and the ways in which new knowledge is generated has been determined without sufficient recognition of its own ideological foundations. Gender, it is argued, is a major social and theoretical category that, along with social class, race, age, ethnicity, and others, must be incorporated into all theoretically based social analyses of sport. The paper reviews the development of the gender and sport discourse from its origins in social psychological research that focused on the supposed conflict between femininity and athleticism, to the more sophisticated yet functionalist notion of “sex roles” and its application to sport, and finally to the emerging feminist paradigm that is informed by a growing body of feminist social theory. The final section argues for a transformation of the gender and sport discourse toward a truly emancipatory one and provides some concrete suggestions as to how to bring this about.

The Elderly's Reactions toward the Dying: The Effects of Perceived Age Similarity

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Smith ◽  
Martin F. Sherman ◽  
Nancy C. Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Just World ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Perceived Age ◽  
Dying Patient

A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was conducted to investigate the elderly's feelings about and willingness to help (by telephoning or visiting) a similar (old) or dissimilar (young) aged dying patient versus a non-dying patient. Based on reasoning from experimental and clinical research, it was predicted and confirmed that elderly respondents would exhibit less positive affect and greater avoidance (decreased willingness to volunteer) towards a patient dying of cancer compared to a patient with a broken leg. In addition, it was predicted, based upon the social-psychological research findings of the sometimes negative effects of perceived similarity, that elderly respondents would exhibit less positive affect and greater avoidance towards a similar aged dying patient, while no such differences would be expected for the non-dying patient. No support was obtained for this prediction. However, data from supplementary analyses and explanations from the Just World Model were provided as to why this prediction was not confirmed.

Self-Affirmation and Prejudice Reduction: When and Why?

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantina Badea ◽  
David K. Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
The One ◽  
Negative Acts

The question of the antecedents of prejudicial responses has a long history that includes contributions of historical, structural, cultural, and psychological factors. Social-psychological research on prejudice as self-image maintenance provides evidence that manifestations of prejudice stem, in part, from the motivation to maintain a feeling of self-worth and self-integrity. Here, we review studies that indicate when and why prejudice toward out-groups in response to self-threats is weakened by affirmations of self-worth. A distinction emerges between in-group threats (e.g., negative acts committed by the in-group) and out-group threats (e.g., immigrants) to social identity, on the one hand, and the defensive reactions people make in response to each kind of threat (i.e., denying in-group responsibility vs. displaying prejudice), on the other. Such negative intergroup interactions can be attenuated by affirming the self. We present theorized moderators (i.e., individual differences and cultural norms) and proposed mechanisms underlying affirmation effects in the domain of prejudice. We discuss potential applications of self-affirmation in prejudice-reduction efforts.

Social Categories and Business Ethics

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1) ◽  
pp. 149-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Messick
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
People Group ◽  
Ingroup Favoritism

In this article, I want to draw attention to one strand of the complex web of processes that are involved when people group others, including themselves, into social categories. I will focus on the tendency to treat members of one’s own group more favorably than nonmembers, a tendency that has been called ingroup favoritism. The structure of the article has three parts. First I will offer an evolutionary argument as to why ingroup favoritism, or something very much like it, is required by theories of the evolution of altruism. I will then review some of the basic social psychological research findings dealing with social categorization generally, and ingroup favoritism specifically. Finally, I will examine two problems in business ethics from the point of view of ingroup favoritism to suggest ways in which social psychological principles and findings may be mobilized to help solve problems of racial or gender discrimination in business contexts.

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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