In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the in... more In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the intergroup relations and emotions domains in a way that is more than the sum of its parts. Focusing on research from our own lab’ we illustrate our argument with evidence for the heuristic value of a group emotions approach to prejudice and discrimination, and to social action and social change on the part of disadvantaged groups. In terms of prejudice and discrimination, a group emotion based analysis helps us to understand the specificity and also extreme forms that (emotional) prejudice can take. We focus on the particularly powerful combination of anger and fear, and the explicitly malicious emotion of intergroup schadenfreude. As well as helping to explain examples of negative intergroup behavior, group emotions can also help to explain social change resulting from group inequalities. We review work from a dual path model of collective action and social change that incorporates efficacy and emotions-focused coping routes to social change. Overall, there is strong evidence that group emotions are functional (if not always prosocial) in regulating behavior at the group level by validating shared experience in the group that becomes a launch-pad for action.
Personality and Individual Differences, Jan 1, 2011
Focusing on a contemporary conspiracy theory popularized in the novel The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2... more Focusing on a contemporary conspiracy theory popularized in the novel The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2002), we examined the underlying psychological factors and individual differences that may predict belief in conspiracy theories, and assessed such beliefs’ resistance to counterevidence. Our results suggest that belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy may be associated with coping with existential threat and death-related anxiety. In addition, the extent to which participants believed in the conspiracy was associated with the endorsement of congruent (New Age spiritual) and competing (Christian religious) beliefs, in opposite directions. Finally, exposure to counterevidence resulted in belief reduction, specifically among more religious participants (i.e. among those endorsing a competing belief system). We suggest that belief in modern conspiracy theories may help individuals attain or maintain a sense of meaning, control, and security.► We examined predictors of belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy theory. ► Conspiracy beliefs were positively associated with death-related anxiety. ► This relationship was mediated by religious and New Age beliefs. ► Exposure to counterevidence reduced conspiracy beliefs for religious individuals. ► Conspiracy beliefs may help individuals attain a sense of meaning and security.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Jan 1, 2009
Previous research suggests that perceived entitativity, which represents the degree to which grou... more Previous research suggests that perceived entitativity, which represents the degree to which groups are perceived to possess unity, coherence, and organization, predicts intergroup stereotyping and bias. The present research yielded complementary evidence that prejudice (toward Muslims in Study 1 and toward South Asians in Study 2) can also predict groups’ perceived entitativity. In particular, Study 1 found that the relationships of two predictors, intergroup contact and social dominance orientation, with perceived entitativity were mediated by prejudice. Study 2 demonstrated, as predicted, that this set of relationships occurred primarily for intergroup attitudes of relatively high certainty. Neither study found support for models in which entitativity mediated the relationships of the predictors with prejudice. Conceptual and analytical factors that may account for evidence of the potential bi-directionality of the bias-entitativity relationship are considered.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Jan 1, 2009
Social identity complexity defines people&amp... more Social identity complexity defines people's more or less complex cognitive representations of the interrelationships among their multiple ingroup identities. Being high in complexity is contingent on situational, cognitive, or motivational factors, and has positive consequences for intergroup relations. Two survey studies conducted in Northern Ireland examined the extent to which intergroup contact and distinctiveness threat act as antecedents, and outgroup attitudes as consequences, of social identity complexity. In both studies, contact was positively, and distinctiveness threat negatively, associated with complex multiple ingroup perceptions, whereas respondents with more complex identity structures also reported more favorable outgroup attitudes. Social identity complexity also mediated the effects of contact and distinctiveness threat on attitudes. This research highlights that the extent to which individuals perceive their multiple ingroups in more or less complex and differentiated ways is of central importance to understanding intergroup phenomena.
We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceiv... more We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceived realistic and symbolic threats to the in-group) threats as simultaneous mediators in the relationship between the quantity and quality of cross-community contact and intergroup attitudes (Study 1, N=166) and trust (Study 2, N=163) in Northern Ireland. The studies tested the hypothesis that the strength of group-identification moderates the importance of individual- vs. group-level threats as predictors of attitudes and trust and as mediators of contact effects. Both anxiety and symbolic threat, but not realistic threat, emerged as predictors of the criterion variables and mediated contact effects. Our results provide support for the moderating role of identification and suggest that while symbolic threat predicts attitudes and trust for high, but not low identifiers, anxiety is a somewhat more important predictor for low than for high identifiers. We discuss these results against the background of current intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.
We tested a model which examined the relationship between contact quantity and quality, relative ... more We tested a model which examined the relationship between contact quantity and quality, relative ingroup status, and intergroup attitudes in Northern Ireland. Intergroup anxiety was considered an individual-level mediator and realistic and symbolic threat as group-level mediators in the model. We examined the idea that the strength of ingroup identification moderates the predictive power of individual- versus group-level variables. Both contact and relative ingroup status predicted anxiety and perceived threats to the ingroup, which were significant mediators in the model. Our results also suggest that while anxiety predicts attitudes for low but not high identifiers, symbolic threats to the ingroup are more important for high than for low identifiers. There was also some evidence indicating that status perceptions moderate contact effects. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.
In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the in... more In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the intergroup relations and emotions domains in a way that is more than the sum of its parts. Focusing on research from our own lab'we illustrate our argument with evidence for the heuristic value of a group emotions approach to prejudice and discrimination, and to social action and social change on the part of disadvantaged groups.
In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the in... more In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the intergroup relations and emotions domains in a way that is more than the sum of its parts. Focusing on research from our own lab’ we illustrate our argument with evidence for the heuristic value of a group emotions approach to prejudice and discrimination, and to social action and social change on the part of disadvantaged groups. In terms of prejudice and discrimination, a group emotion based analysis helps us to understand the specificity and also extreme forms that (emotional) prejudice can take. We focus on the particularly powerful combination of anger and fear, and the explicitly malicious emotion of intergroup schadenfreude. As well as helping to explain examples of negative intergroup behavior, group emotions can also help to explain social change resulting from group inequalities. We review work from a dual path model of collective action and social change that incorporates efficacy and emotions-focused coping routes to social change. Overall, there is strong evidence that group emotions are functional (if not always prosocial) in regulating behavior at the group level by validating shared experience in the group that becomes a launch-pad for action.
Personality and Individual Differences, Jan 1, 2011
Focusing on a contemporary conspiracy theory popularized in the novel The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2... more Focusing on a contemporary conspiracy theory popularized in the novel The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2002), we examined the underlying psychological factors and individual differences that may predict belief in conspiracy theories, and assessed such beliefs’ resistance to counterevidence. Our results suggest that belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy may be associated with coping with existential threat and death-related anxiety. In addition, the extent to which participants believed in the conspiracy was associated with the endorsement of congruent (New Age spiritual) and competing (Christian religious) beliefs, in opposite directions. Finally, exposure to counterevidence resulted in belief reduction, specifically among more religious participants (i.e. among those endorsing a competing belief system). We suggest that belief in modern conspiracy theories may help individuals attain or maintain a sense of meaning, control, and security.► We examined predictors of belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy theory. ► Conspiracy beliefs were positively associated with death-related anxiety. ► This relationship was mediated by religious and New Age beliefs. ► Exposure to counterevidence reduced conspiracy beliefs for religious individuals. ► Conspiracy beliefs may help individuals attain a sense of meaning and security.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Jan 1, 2009
Previous research suggests that perceived entitativity, which represents the degree to which grou... more Previous research suggests that perceived entitativity, which represents the degree to which groups are perceived to possess unity, coherence, and organization, predicts intergroup stereotyping and bias. The present research yielded complementary evidence that prejudice (toward Muslims in Study 1 and toward South Asians in Study 2) can also predict groups’ perceived entitativity. In particular, Study 1 found that the relationships of two predictors, intergroup contact and social dominance orientation, with perceived entitativity were mediated by prejudice. Study 2 demonstrated, as predicted, that this set of relationships occurred primarily for intergroup attitudes of relatively high certainty. Neither study found support for models in which entitativity mediated the relationships of the predictors with prejudice. Conceptual and analytical factors that may account for evidence of the potential bi-directionality of the bias-entitativity relationship are considered.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Jan 1, 2009
Social identity complexity defines people&amp... more Social identity complexity defines people's more or less complex cognitive representations of the interrelationships among their multiple ingroup identities. Being high in complexity is contingent on situational, cognitive, or motivational factors, and has positive consequences for intergroup relations. Two survey studies conducted in Northern Ireland examined the extent to which intergroup contact and distinctiveness threat act as antecedents, and outgroup attitudes as consequences, of social identity complexity. In both studies, contact was positively, and distinctiveness threat negatively, associated with complex multiple ingroup perceptions, whereas respondents with more complex identity structures also reported more favorable outgroup attitudes. Social identity complexity also mediated the effects of contact and distinctiveness threat on attitudes. This research highlights that the extent to which individuals perceive their multiple ingroups in more or less complex and differentiated ways is of central importance to understanding intergroup phenomena.
We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceiv... more We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceived realistic and symbolic threats to the in-group) threats as simultaneous mediators in the relationship between the quantity and quality of cross-community contact and intergroup attitudes (Study 1, N=166) and trust (Study 2, N=163) in Northern Ireland. The studies tested the hypothesis that the strength of group-identification moderates the importance of individual- vs. group-level threats as predictors of attitudes and trust and as mediators of contact effects. Both anxiety and symbolic threat, but not realistic threat, emerged as predictors of the criterion variables and mediated contact effects. Our results provide support for the moderating role of identification and suggest that while symbolic threat predicts attitudes and trust for high, but not low identifiers, anxiety is a somewhat more important predictor for low than for high identifiers. We discuss these results against the background of current intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.
We tested a model which examined the relationship between contact quantity and quality, relative ... more We tested a model which examined the relationship between contact quantity and quality, relative ingroup status, and intergroup attitudes in Northern Ireland. Intergroup anxiety was considered an individual-level mediator and realistic and symbolic threat as group-level mediators in the model. We examined the idea that the strength of ingroup identification moderates the predictive power of individual- versus group-level variables. Both contact and relative ingroup status predicted anxiety and perceived threats to the ingroup, which were significant mediators in the model. Our results also suggest that while anxiety predicts attitudes for low but not high identifiers, symbolic threats to the ingroup are more important for high than for low identifiers. There was also some evidence indicating that status perceptions moderate contact effects. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.
In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the in... more In this chapter we make the case that recent research on intergroup emotions enriches both the intergroup relations and emotions domains in a way that is more than the sum of its parts. Focusing on research from our own lab'we illustrate our argument with evidence for the heuristic value of a group emotions approach to prejudice and discrimination, and to social action and social change on the part of disadvantaged groups.
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Papers by Nicole Tausch
Papers - Social Emotions by Nicole Tausch