Search Results

Types of Threats: From Stereotype Threat to Stereotype Threats

Jenessa R. Shapiro

in Stereotype Threat: Theory, Process, and Application

The psychological experience of stereotype threat—a concern about being seen through the lens of a negative stereotype—can undermine motivation and performance in stereotype-relevant fields (Steele, ... More

The psychological experience of stereotype threat—a concern about being seen through the lens of a negative stereotype—can undermine motivation and performance in stereotype-relevant fields (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002). However, a key question remains: What exactly is stereotype threat a threat to, or a fear of? A close look at this important literature reveals that “stereotype threat” is often employed to describe and explain distinct processes and phenomena. The present chapter reviews a new approach to stereotype threat: the Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007). In contrast to previous research, the Multi-Threat Framework articulates six qualitatively distinct stereotype threats that emerge from the intersection of two dimensions—the target of the stereotype threat (who will one’s stereotype-relevant actions reflect upon: the self or one’s group) and the source of the stereotype threat (who will judge these stereotype-relevant actions: the self, outgroup others, or ingroup others). Each of these stereotype threats have different eliciting conditions and moderators, are mediated by somewhat different processes, are experienced to different degrees by different negatively stereotyped groups, are coped with and compensated for in different ways, and require different interventions to overcome. The chapter focuses on the diversity of situational and individual difference factors that moderate an individual’s susceptibility to the different types of stereotype threats, as these factors shed light on when each of the stereotypes threats will emerge and how to best remediate the negative consequences of these stereotype threats.Less

What is a National Minority?

JENNIFER JACKSON PREECE

in National Minorities and the European Nation-States System

This chapter considers a working definition of national minority that is well suited to a study focused on the tension between minority rights and sovereign state rights and written in the ... More

This chapter considers a working definition of national minority that is well suited to a study focused on the tension between minority rights and sovereign state rights and written in the international society tradition. This objective is pursued in two ways: by surveying the history of how international organisations concerned with minority questions have sought — and as of 1995 failed — to establish a common definition of the term ‘minority’, and by evaluating the various meanings adopted by some of the leading academic commentators on the subject of minority rights. In particular, the kind of criteria these definitions employ is discussed, whether it is objective criteria such as distinctions of race, language, ethnicity, or religion, or alternatively, whether it is subjective distinctions such as group self-identification as a minority. This chapter also explores the relationship between the concept of a minority and the broader and more familiar idea of a nation with a corresponding right to self-determination.Less

Identity and Polarization in the Lab

Elizabeth R. Nugent

in After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition

This chapter presents the motivation, design, and results of laboratory experimental tests on how repression conditions political polarization through identity. The effects of shared trauma on group ... More

This chapter presents the motivation, design, and results of laboratory experimental tests on how repression conditions political polarization through identity. The effects of shared trauma on group identification and polarization are well-established in the psychological literature. Here, the chapter tests for the relationship between repression and political identities to establish the central psychological mechanism through which repression conditions polarization. To do this, the author designed an experiment in a controlled lab environment to observe, measure, and make causal inferences about the psychological mechanism underpinning the book's theory. While the two previous case-study chapters demonstrate how repression and polarization unfolded in the complicated real world, the lab experiments provide a clean (if hard) test of the theory, focusing on the central psychological mechanism. The results show how repression shapes levels of polarization among groups through identity formation.Less

Social categorisation and group identification: how African-Americans shape their collective identity through consumption

Virág Molnár and Michéle Lamont

in Innovation By Demand: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Demand and its Role in Innovation

This chapter analyses how African Americans use consumption to express collective identity. It considers ‘group identification’ and ‘social categorisation’ through interviews conducted with black ... More

This chapter analyses how African Americans use consumption to express collective identity. It considers ‘group identification’ and ‘social categorisation’ through interviews conducted with black marketing experts who specialise in the African-American market place. The marketing experts are viewed both as individual consumers and as members of an occupational group that is built on increasing the importance of consumption in creating individual social identities. They argue that for African Americans, the formation of collective identity is centred on defining their place in U.S. society, finding ways through consumption behaviour to demonstrate social membership. Furthermore, the concepts of group identification and social categorisation improve our understanding of the meaning of consumption for this group. The role of the marketing specialists is found to have a crucial role in defining what it means to belong in black society in terms of defining the space of black consumption itself and also in shaping the wider public's perceptions of blacks through intermediaries such as the advertising industry. This chapter also discusses consumer discrimination and the racialisation of consumption.Less

The Transformation of Private Needs into Public Issues

Sandra R. Levitsky

in Caring for Our Own: Why There is No Political Demand for New American Social Welfare Rights

This chapter explores the first essential dimension of politicization: the process of reinterpreting longstanding “private” needs as matters of public deliberation and decision making. How do ... More

This chapter explores the first essential dimension of politicization: the process of reinterpreting longstanding “private” needs as matters of public deliberation and decision making. How do individuals who are deeply committed to the ideology of family responsibility for care come to view a personal issue like caring for ailing parents or partners as a subject appropriate for policy intervention? Drawing on the social movement concept of collective identity, this chapter finds that group identification with a caregiver identity is an important mechanism by which individuals challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about family responsibility for care and think about long-term care as a public policy issue. Sustained contact with the discourse of caregiving in social services highlights similarities among caregiver experiences and reframes their individual problems as collective problems. That discourse also emphasizes the underlying structural or sociocultural factors that make long-term care so difficult for families in the United States.Less

A Theory of Polarization in Authoritarian Regimes

Elizabeth R. Nugent

in After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition

This chapter presents the book's argument in detail. It begins by reviewing existing work on three central concepts: polarization, preference formation, and repression. The chapter also highlights ... More

This chapter presents the book's argument in detail. It begins by reviewing existing work on three central concepts: polarization, preference formation, and repression. The chapter also highlights insights from social psychology on shared trauma, identity formation, and the causes and consequences of group identification, which are fundamental to understanding where and how the argument builds on existing approaches to polarization. It then outlines the argument that the repressive conditions within an authoritarian regime can help predict polarization levels during a transition period. The nature of the regime's political repression affects how opposition groups come to identify themselves, which in turn shapes differences in affect and preferences among the opposition groups. In this way, the nature of repression in authoritarian systems shapes the levels of political polarization observed during transitions.Less

Feeling Ashamed of Myself Because of You

Alba Montes Sánchez and Alessandro Salice

in Embodiment, Enaction, and Culture: Investigating the Constitution of the Shared World

Within the literature, shame is generally described as a self-conscious emotion, meaning that shame is about the self that feels that emotion. But how can this account accommodate cases in which I ... More

Within the literature, shame is generally described as a self-conscious emotion, meaning that shame is about the self that feels that emotion. But how can this account accommodate cases in which I feel ashamed of someone else? This paper pursues two goals. The first is to vindicate the phenomenological credentials of what might be called ‘hetero-induced shame’ and to resist possible attempts to reduce its specificity. The second goal is to show how the standard account of shame as self-directed can be made hospitable to cases of hetero-induced shame. We argue that a promising way to do this is by supplementing the standard account by a theory of group identification.Less

Repression and Polarization in Egypt, 1981–2011

Elizabeth R. Nugent

in After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition

This chapter describes how targeted repression in Egypt increased polarization within the opposition between 1981 and 2011. It begins by documenting the effects of a targeted repressive environment ... More

This chapter describes how targeted repression in Egypt increased polarization within the opposition between 1981 and 2011. It begins by documenting the effects of a targeted repressive environment on the Egyptian opposition through psychological, social, and organizational mechanisms. Psychologically, a targeted repressive environment revealed to Muslim Brotherhood members that they were being uniquely victimized by the state, and that other groups were at best tacitly — and at worst explicitly — in support of this harsh treatment. In addition, targeted repression altered the social environment for opposition members; Islamists were imprisoned together, away from the few secular activists who were also detained, and thus discussed political ideas among themselves rather than with other groups that had different ideas about reform. Finally, targeted repression altered the Brotherhood's organizational structure by creating an increasingly secretive, exclusive, and isolated organization as it sought to survive regime repression. The targeted nature of repression against the Brotherhood primed in-group identification, as the group was uniquely treated in a brutal way and identified as the regime's main victim. As a result, the identity of the larger opposition became increasingly fractured between opposition groups that were co-opted, tolerated, or targeted by the regime. Consequently, negative perceptions of the out-group permeated the political system and levels of affective polarization increased.Less

Ethnocentrism in Black and White

in Us Against Them: Ethnocentric Foundations of American Opinion

This chapter examines the role of ethnocentrism in public opinion about race in the United States. The analysis reveals that black Americans identify more or less closely with their racial group and ... More

This chapter examines the role of ethnocentrism in public opinion about race in the United States. The analysis reveals that black Americans identify more or less closely with their racial group and this may explain variation in their policy opinions on race. On the other hand, white Americans' views about matters of race are influenced by the primacy of prejudice. The chapter also discusses the differences among ethnocentricity, group identification, and prejudice.Less

Culture and Outgroup Altruism

Pearl M. Oliner

in Saving the Forsaken: Religious Culture and the Rescue of Jews in Nazi Europe

This chapter offers some final thoughts on the relationships between religious culture and outgroup altruism. It suggests that collectivist culture is more predisposed towards outward altruism ... More

This chapter offers some final thoughts on the relationships between religious culture and outgroup altruism. It suggests that collectivist culture is more predisposed towards outward altruism compared to individualistic culture and explains that altruistic behavior in collectivist cultures is motivated by prescribed norms, the violation of which may result in the loss of group identification. It also contends that consequential altruism is altruistic inasmuch as it benefits the other and it may be the highest normative level most cultures can reach.Less

Identification of Treatment Groups

David Daley, Rasmus Højbjerg Jacobsen, Anne‐Mette Lange, Anders Sørensen, and Jeanette Walldorf

in Costing Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Impact on the Individual and Society

This chapter identifies and characterizes two groups of Danish individuals who have been diagnosed with ADHD as adults. One group of patients consists of individuals referred to and diagnosed within ... More

This chapter identifies and characterizes two groups of Danish individuals who have been diagnosed with ADHD as adults. One group of patients consists of individuals referred to and diagnosed within secondary-health-care-based psychiatry services in Denmark. The other group consists of individuals with ADHD who are identified on the basis of their medication use. The chapter also presents descriptive statistics about the demographic and medical background of the individuals in the two groups. The two groups of individuals with ADHD have a younger distribution than the general population and contain a larger share of males. Moreover, both groups of individuals with ADHD have on average more comorbid psychiatric diagnoses than the general population, with a large share of these comorbid diagnoses being related to substance abuse.Less

Collective Individuals: Parallels Between Joint Action and Biological Individuality

Cédric Paternotte

in Individuals Across the Sciences

There exist many definitions of human joint action. However, they do not agree and are not directly reducible to each other. This multiplicity is due to a lack of constraints on them. This chapter ... More

There exist many definitions of human joint action. However, they do not agree and are not directly reducible to each other. This multiplicity is due to a lack of constraints on them. This chapter argues that they should at least meet an efficiency constraint: any account of joint action has to justify how it reliably leads agents to cooperation. One avenue consists in exploring the analogy between definitions of joint action and of biological individuality. The main components for biological individuality have been identified and their relations are much better understood than those between the components of human joint action. The chapter shows that there are surprisingly strong analogies between the criteria and mechanisms for joint action and for biological individuality. As a result, we can import some insights of the biological literature to define what a joint action is, and when a group can and should be considered as an individual.Less

The “New Black Voter” and Obama’s Presidential Campaign

Sarah Cote Hampson

in Historic Firsts: How Symbolic Empowerment Changes U.S. Politics

The chapter uses data from the 2008 American National Election Studies (ANES) time series to examine symbolic empowerment and its impact on political behavior. The chapter reveals that voting in the ... More

The chapter uses data from the 2008 American National Election Studies (ANES) time series to examine symbolic empowerment and its impact on political behavior. The chapter reveals that voting in the nomination campaign—specifically, voting for the winning candidate—encouraged other forms of participation on the part of the African American electorate comprised of the newly registered and those previously registered who were similarly energized by Obama’s historic candidacy. Newcomer or not, African Americans were more likely to participate in all types of political behavior—including wearing campaign buttons, posting a lawn sign or bumper sticker, engaging in political talk for or against a candidate, donating money to the Democratic Party, and attending a speech or rally—in part because of the salience of racial group identification.Less

Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo

in Sceptres and Sciences in the Spains: Four Humanists and the New Philosophy, c 1680-1740

This chapter examines the works of Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo, royal librarian and co-founder of the Spanish Royal Academy of Language under Spain's first Bourbon monarch. It discusses Álvarez's ... More

This chapter examines the works of Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo, royal librarian and co-founder of the Spanish Royal Academy of Language under Spain's first Bourbon monarch. It discusses Álvarez's attack of writers of criticized conceptism and culteranism, and analyses laws of perspective and motion that are hidden in a variety of his poems. The chapter also investigates the role of Álvarez in the production of a transitional group identification that sought to bridge the Hapsburg and Bourbon definitions of Nación.Less

Deterritorialising the Holocaust

Adrian Parr

in Deleuze and the Contemporary World

This chapter aims to explore the connection between history and memory, and analyses the deterritorialisation of the Holocaust. It suggests that there are two kinds of memory – singular and ... More

This chapter aims to explore the connection between history and memory, and analyses the deterritorialisation of the Holocaust. It suggests that there are two kinds of memory – singular and reterritorialising – and explains that the reterritorialising function of memory is developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their A Thousand Plateaus. The analysis of different forms of Holocaust remembrance in the context of Austrian national historiography and Israeli national identity reveals how the Holocaust functions as a reactionary ground of identification.Less

Religion, Cohesion, and Hostility

Harvey Whitehouse

in Religion, Intolerance, and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation

This chapter examines the effects of religious ritual on tolerance and intolerance. It distinguishes between the rare traumatic rituals that are typical of small religious groups and the ... More

This chapter examines the effects of religious ritual on tolerance and intolerance. It distinguishes between the rare traumatic rituals that are typical of small religious groups and the high-frequency routinized religious rituals that are typical of established world religions. It argues that rare traumatic rituals contribute to intense relations of trust and tolerance within small religious groups but also in terms of out-group hostility and intolerance. High frequency routinized rituals do less to directly establish trust and toleration of the in-group, but they allow for the extension of attitudes of toleration and trust to a much broader in-group. Because groups with routinized rituals can unite larger populations, they tend to out-compete groups who lack similar group-identifying markers. In times of hardship and conflict it may be difficult to maintain tolerant attitudes on a large scale. A way to create universal attitudes of tolerance may be to reduce people's levels of ‘existential anxiety’.Less

Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo

in Sceptres and Sciences in the Spains: Four Humanists and the New Philosophy, c 1680-1740

This chapter examines the works of humanist Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo. It suggests that Peralta's precepts for epic poetry and history acknowledged French neoclassical rhetoric and poetics, and ... More

This chapter examines the works of humanist Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo. It suggests that Peralta's precepts for epic poetry and history acknowledged French neoclassical rhetoric and poetics, and analyses the physics and metaphysics contained in his narrations and poems. The chapter considers Peralta's views on group identification and the influences of Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes on his writings. It also proposes an explanation for how his defence of the ethnic, political, and religious origins of the Spanish could be reconciled with his praise for the transformation of Spain achieved by the Bourbons.Less

Bringing Us Together

Sophia Moskalenko and Clark McCauley

in The Marvel of Martyrdom: The Power of Self-Sacrifice in a Selfish World

How and why does a martyr story spread beyond individuals to larger groups, permeating a cultural landscape? What are the social psychological mechanisms that make people want to share the story with ... More

How and why does a martyr story spread beyond individuals to larger groups, permeating a cultural landscape? What are the social psychological mechanisms that make people want to share the story with others? This chapter will trace the effects of martyrdom beyond individual followers, to groups of sympathizers and opponents of the martyr’s cause. The authors suggest that a martyrdom story endows those who tell it with social status, creates a sense of community among those who agree with the martyr’s cause, and establishes a common value system. Martyrdom stories change people, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.Less