Supplemental materials: Going to college with a posse: How having high school peers on campus supports college achievement

Supplementary materials for published article

"It's Us Against the World": How Distrust in Americans versus People-In-General Shapes Competitive Foreign Policy Preferences

Previous research has uncovered links between generalized distrust and preferences for competitive (vs. cooperative

Diversity is in the Eye of the Beholder: How Majority and Minority Group Members Define Diversity

This paper suggests that the concept of diversity carries different meanings for majority (e.g., men, Whites) and minority (e.g., women, racial minorities) group members. Because diversity is in-group relevant for minority but not majority group members, group-interest may motivate minority but not majority group members to define diversity in ways that maximize benefits for the in-group. One such way is for minorities to define diversity in a relatively complex manner – that is, as entailing both the numerical and structural representation of minorities in an organization. Majority group members, on the other hand, since they are not motivated by group-interest, may define diversity as simply entailing minorities’ numerical representation. Four studies tested these hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Categorization and Communication in the Face of Prejudice: When Describing Perceptions Changes What Is Perceived

In the face of prejudice against an ingroup, common ground for communication exists when people use similar social categories to understand the situation. Three studies tested the hypothesis that describing perceptions of prejudice can fundamentally change those perceptions because communicators account for the common ground in line with conversational norms. When women (Study 1), African Americans (Study 2), and Americans (Study 3) simply thought about suspected prejudice against their ingroup, categorization guided their perceptions: Participants assimilated their views of the prejudiced event toward the perceptions of ingroup members but contrasted away from the perceptions of outgroup members. Conversely, when participants described their perceptions, they contrasted away from the given category information and actually arrived at the opposite perceptions as those who merely thought about the prejudiced event. Study 3 identified an important qualification of these effects by showing that they were obtained only when participants could assume their audience was familiar with the common ground. Implications are discussed for understanding the role of communication in facilitating and inhibiting collective action about prejudice

Vicarious dissonance caused by a leader

Vicarious dissonance does not lead to an attitude change but to derogatio

Unlocking the Benefits of Gender Diversity: How an Ecological-Belonging Intervention Enhances Performance in Science Classrooms

Gender diversity signals inclusivity, but meta-analyses suggest it does not boost individual or group performance. This research examined whether a social-psychological intervention can unlock the benefits of gender diversity on college physics students’ social and academic outcomes. Analyses of 124 introductory physics classrooms at a large research institution in the eastern United States (N=3605) found that in classrooms doing “business as usual,” cross-gender collaboration was infrequent, there was a substantial gender gap in physics classroom belonging, and classroom gender diversity had no effect on performance. The ecological-belonging intervention seeks to establish classroom norms that adversity in the course is normal and surmountable. In classrooms receiving the intervention, cross-gender interaction increased by 51%, the gender gap in belonging was reduced by 47%, and higher classroom diversity was associated with higher course grades and one-year GPA for both men and women. Addressing contextual belongingness norms may help to unlock the benefits of diversity

Going to College with a Posse: How Having High School Peers on Campus Supports College Achievement

The social experience of transitioning to a four-year university varies widely among students. Some attend with few or no prior contacts or acquaintances from their hometown; others attend with a large network of high school alumni. Using a sample (N=43,240) of undergraduates spanning 7.5 years at a public university, we examine what factors predict high school peer-prevalence on campus (HSPP) and whether HSPP predicts college achievement above and beyond such factors. Analyses found that HSPP was predicted by variables associated with societal privilege (e.g., being White, continuing generation). Above and beyond these variables, HSPP independently predicted higher grades in gateway STEM courses and, among first-generation college students, higher retention. The role of HSPP in fostering equity and inequity is discussed