European Journal of Social Psychology

De La Haye, Anne‐Marie

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.59pmid: N/A

In studies on the Outgroup Homogeneity Effect (OHE), a common measure is percentage estimates. A possible difficulty is that percentage estimates are also sensitive to the False Consensus Effect (FCE). I present an experiment aimed at analysing how these two phenomena interact. Engineering and business students indicated whether behaviour descriptions were true or false for themselves, then estimated the percentages of members of each group who would self‐ascribe the same items. In order to bring the OHE to light while controlling for self‐ascription, an item‐per‐item analysis is necessary. In such an analysis, the OHE must appear as over‐attribution of any item by members of the group for which the item is not typical. I examined whether this effect appeared among subjects who either did or did not ascribe each item to themselves. This was done through an ANOVA where items were entered as the random factor. The False Consensus and the Outgroup Homogeneity effects both showed up in this analysis, but they interacted with each other in such a way that they could be different aspects of the same phenomenon. The consequences of this unexpected finding for the definition of the OHE are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mullen, Brian; Rozell, Drew; Johnson, Craig

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.37pmid: N/A

An archival analysis was conducted on the ethnophaulisms for ethnic immigrant groups as a function of the size and the familiarity of those groups. Cognitive representation was operationalized as the degree of complexity in, and the valence of, the ethnophaulisms applied to ethnic immigrant groups in the United States during each of 15 consecutive 10‐year time periods. Group size was operationalized as the number of first‐generation persons in these ethnic groups during each of these same 15 10‐year time periods. Familiarity was operationalized in terms of the number of times each ethnic immigrant group was mentioned in social histories and popular songs for each of these same 15 10‐year time periods. Ethnophaulisms for smaller groups tended to be less complex and more negative and ethnophaulisms for less familiar groups tended to be less complex and more negative. Analyses delineate the interrelations between ethnic immigrant group size, ethnic immigrant group familiarity, and the cognitive representations of these groups. The implications of these results for research on intergroup perceptions are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Catellani, Patrizia; Milesi, Patrizia

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.39pmid: N/A

Three studies assessed the influence of differential perspective taking on counterfactual thinking. In Study 1 male and female subjects were asked to play the role of, respectively, perpetrator and victim in a rape case, and to give their own account of the event. Analysis of spontaneous counterfactuals showed a main tendency to focus on actions more than inactions and on controllable more than uncontrollable elements. However, this tendency was moderated by the subject's role and the counterfactual target. While victims focused on perpetrators' controllable actions more than on their own, perpetrators did not focus on victims' controllable actions more than on their own; they focused on victims' controllable inactions instead. In Study 2, where males and females were asked to reverse their roles, and where prompted as well as spontaneous counterfactuals were analysed, the same results were found. Further evidence for generality of these results was found in Study 3, where an assault case instead of a rape case was taken into account. These findings support the view that counterfactual mutability may be influenced by role‐based motivations, as well as by role‐based expectations regarding how active a party is supposed to have been in an event. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bar‐Tal, Daniel; Labin, Daniela

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.43pmid: N/A

This study examines the effect of a major event (terrorist attacks) on the stereotypic perceptions, attitudes and affects of 119 Israeli adolescents (56 males and 63 females of 5th and 8th grades) toward three target groups: (a) Palestinians, who still have conflictive relations with the Israelis (Palestinian extremists carried out the attacks), (b) Jordanians, who have peaceful relations with the Israelis and (c) Arabs, in general, who are considered a subcategory including Arabs of all nations. The questionnaires were administered to the same adolescents three times: during a relatively peaceful spell in Israeli–Palestinian relations; one day following two terrorist attacks, and three months thereafter. In the last administration adolescents' need for closure was also measured. Adolescents' perceptions, attitudes and affect toward the three target group were differentiated—relating to Palestinians most negatively and to Jordanians most positively. Also, following the terrorist attacks, stereotypic perceptions and attitudes changed in a negative direction, in relation to all the three groups; again with expressed differentiation among the three groups. In the third measurement, some measures remained negative, but some changed to be more positive. Only few effects of age were detected and several significant correlation with need for closure were found. These results indicate that stereotypes and attitudes toward outgroups are context‐dependent, influenced by events; thus they serve as ‘a seismograph’ to the quality of intergroup relations at any given time. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Coenders, Marcel; Scheepers, Peer; Sniderman, Paul M.; Verberk, Geneviève

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.44pmid: N/A

Although it has become common to suggest a conceptual distinction between traditional and contemporary forms of prejudice, Pettigrew and Meertens have actually attempted to distinguish the two empirically and developed measures to gauge each. Replication of their study, on the distinction between blatant and subtle prejudice, discloses a number of methodological flaws that have led to debatable substantial conclusions. We found two distinct measures, however, substantially different from the ones proposed by Pettigrew and Meertens. Our model shows, by all available indices, a better fit to the data: a first broad factor labelled general prejudice, and a small second factor labelled perceived cultural differences. The first factor is well explained by a number of social characteristics; the second is rather poorly explained and has a rather poor discriminatory power. The first one has strong effects on some consequential variables whereas the second has hardly any effects. Other evidence, considered to be crucial by Pettigrew and Meertens, contains other methodological flaws, i.e. the neglect of interdependent items. After this correction, their piece of evidence turns out to be artificial. As a benefit to future research, we try to clarify conditions for distinguishing empirically and conceptually between traditional and contemporary prejudice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pettigrew, Thomas F.; Meertens, Roel W.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.45pmid: N/A

With no theory and the use of different methods and assumptions, Coenders and his colleagues not surprisingly produce a different analysis of prejudice from ours of 1995. But we see no reason to withdraw our claims for both the concept and measurement of subtle prejudice. By obscuring our theoretical structure and offering none of their own, our critics follow their empirical preferences to reach a meaningless solution. In doing so, they disregard the social psychological literature on prejudice—especially that of Rokeach and Tajfel. Moreover, their reanalysis of the 1988 Eurobarometer survey data does not replicate our analysis in important ways. We answer their objections to our use of orthogonal varimax rotation and our demonstrations of the predictive value of the Subtle Prejudice Scale, and we show that when tested appropriately our theoretically derived model performs as well as and often significantly better than their atheoretical model. We also find the six conditions set down by Coenders et al. for differentiating the two forms of prejudice are largely met by our analysis. Finally, repeated replications by other investigators in ten countries with diverse outgroups and new samples support both our original analysis and the usefulness of our Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scales. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Kemmelmeier, Markus; Oyserman, Daphna

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.47pmid: N/A

We hypothesized that the consequences of upward social comparisons are mediated by independent versus interdependent content of self‐construals. Independent self‐construals emphasize personal uniqueness; thus comparison to an outstanding other should undermine one's sense of uniqueness and lower current self‐evaluations. Conversely, interdependent self‐construals focus on interpersonal connectedness. Hence, interdependent individuals should be able to bask in the reflected success of a personally relevant other in an upward comparison task, thus increasing self‐evaluations. In a study involving 66 US undergraduates the latter predictions were supported. The psychological dimension of interdependence predicted differential outcomes of upward social comparisons, but this was not the case for the dimension of independence. Also, differential consequences of social comparison were more pronounced for current self‐evaluations than for participants' possible selves. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.