Self-Depersonalization and Ingroup Favoritism in Minimal Group Hierarchies

Research suggests that members of low-status groups are more likely than members of high-status groups to show self-depersonalization and to favor ingroup members over outgroup members. The present research tests two alternative explanations of this status asymmetry: One explanation is based on the motive for achieving a positive social identity, and the other explanation is based on the willingness to cope with a social identity threat. Three minimal group experiments examine these two explanations. Supporting the identity motive explanation, the findings show that self-depersonalization (Studies 1-3) and ingroup favoritism (Study 3) are less prominent in the high-status group than in the low-status and the status-unspecified groups. Moreover, the results do not support the identity threat explanation because self-depersonalization and ingroup favoritism were not weaker in the low-status group than in the status-unspecified group

Men, Women, and Economic Changes: Social Representations of the Economic Crisis

The current economic crisis has been a new and unexpected phenomenon; it is part of the capitalist banking and economic system that has been known until 2008. The crisis has led to banks, states, international institutions, as well as common people, changing profoundly their representations about the economy. In this scenario, some questions arise: how do men and women of different social status face the complex and unknown phenomenon of the economic crisis? Do gender and social status justify the different meanings attributed to the crisis, to its causes and its consequences? When confronted with an external threat like the economic crisis, people draw on social representations to provide meaning to that unfamiliar situation. Through media and interpersonal communication, social groups produce naive theories that improve familiarity with an unexpected and distressing phenomenon. In order to analyze these lay theories elaborated though daily economic thinking and acting, this research has been conducted using Social Representation Theory and its methodological approaches. This theory, in fact, contributes to our understanding of the societal process of sense making when an unexperienced external shock affects society. It offers a way to understand economic phenomena’s impact on social groups. Social representations (SRs) serve the purpose of making the unfamiliar become familiar, and the unusual become usual, as well as to provide orientation in times of change. In this sense, in this article, social representations theory is used to examine the role of gender and educational status in the production of representations of the crisis. Presented findings came from a survey carried out in Southern Italy (N = 120) revealing status and gender differences in the ways people define the crisis and cope with it. Participants were asked to order the first most important five statements and the first least important statements, among a list of 15 (according to the rule of a multiple of 3) to code every item with a score of 1 (less characteristic), 3 (more characteristic), or 2 (not chosen). Every Questionnaire of Characterization was created starting from social descriptions and explanations of the crisis, identified in a previous study. They covered every sub-dimension of the content (complementary to the structure) of the social representation of the crisis, such as: cognitive-evaluative aspects about the representation’s structure (central and peripheral elements); descriptive-defining aspects of the representation; informative sources and interaction networks; level of involvement/implication with the object; relationship between representation and social practices; perceptions, attributions and categorizations (causes, responsibilities, duration/evolution, solutions, positive implications, the EU’s role). In this paper, we will only consider the answers related to the following dimensions: crisis definitions, strategies to tackle the crisis and social practices related to the crisis. The analysis of the data was carried out primarily using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). In this analysis, in order to uncover the objectification and anchoring processes, we considered the interaction of status and gender as an illustrative variable. These findings were further substantiated with the use of Discriminant analysis. The social anchoring of social representations of the economic crisis is influenced by gender and social status. Nevertheless, the difference in status modifies the stereotypical dimensions, also coherently with predictions derived from gender role theory about the reduction of the impact of gender stereotypes when men and women occupy similar social positions. On the one hand, high-status participants defined the crisis in more abstract terms than low-status participants. On the other hand, high-status men hold a more proactive style of coping with the crisis than other participants, especially women. The discussion focuses on the role of social representations theory in understanding the relationships between gender, status and economic behavior, providing insights into how gender equality might be improved

Men, Women, and Economic Changes: Social Representations of the Economic Crisis

The current economic crisis has been a new and unexpected phenomenon; it is part of the capitalist banking and economic system that has been known until 2008. The crisis has led to banks, states, international institutions, as well as common people, changing profoundly their representations about the economy. In this scenario, some questions arise: how do men and women of different social status face the complex and unknown phenomenon of the economic crisis? Do gender and social status justify the different meanings attributed to the crisis, to its causes and its consequences? When confronted with an external threat like the economic crisis, people draw on social representations to provide meaning to that unfamiliar situation. Through media and interpersonal communication, social groups produce naive theories that improve familiarity with an unexpected and distressing phenomenon. In order to analyze these lay theories elaborated though daily economic thinking and acting, this research has been conducted using Social Representation Theory and its methodological approaches. This theory, in fact, contributes to our understanding of the societal process of sense making when an unexperienced external shock affects society. It offers a way to understand economic phenomena’s impact on social groups. Social representations (SRs) serve the purpose of making the unfamiliar become familiar, and the unusual become usual, as well as to provide orientation in times of change. In this sense, in this article, social representations theory is used to examine the role of gender and educational status in the production of representations of the crisis. Presented findings came from a survey carried out in Southern Italy (N = 120) revealing status and gender differences in the ways people define the crisis and cope with it. Participants were asked to order the first most important five statements and the first least important statements, among a list of 15 (according to the rule of a multiple of 3) to code every item with a score of 1 (less characteristic), 3 (more characteristic), or 2 (not chosen). Every Questionnaire of Characterization was created starting from social descriptions and explanations of the crisis, identified in a previous study. They covered every sub-dimension of the content (complementary to the structure) of the social representation of the crisis, such as: cognitive-evaluative aspects about the representation’s structure (central and peripheral elements); descriptive-defining aspects of the representation; informative sources and interaction networks; level of involvement/implication with the object; relationship between representation and social practices; perceptions, attributions and categorizations (causes, responsibilities, duration/evolution, solutions, positive implications, the EU’s role). In this paper, we will only consider the answers related to the following dimensions: crisis definitions, strategies to tackle the crisis and social practices related to the crisis. The analysis of the data was carried out primarily using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). In this analysis, in order to uncover the objectification and anchoring processes, we considered the interaction of status and gender as an illustrative variable. These findings were further substantiated with the use of Discriminant analysis. The social anchoring of social representations of the economic crisis is influenced by gender and social status. Nevertheless, the difference in status modifies the stereotypical dimensions, also coherently with predictions derived from gender role theory about the reduction of the impact of gender stereotypes when men and women occupy similar social positions. On the one hand, high-status participants defined the crisis in more abstract terms than low-status participants. On the other hand, high-status men hold a more proactive style of coping with the crisis than other participants, especially women. The discussion focuses on the role of social representations theory in understanding the relationships between gender, status and economic behavior, providing insights into how gender equality might be improved

"I Want, Therefore I Am":Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern

Empirical findings suggest that members of socially disadvantaged groups who join a better-valued group through individual achievement tend to express low concern for their disadvantaged ingroup (e.g., denial of collective discrimination, low intent to initiate collective action). In the present research, we investigated whether this tendency occurs solely for individuals who have already engaged in social mobility, or also for individuals who psychologically prepare themselves, that is ‘anticipate’, social mobility. Moreover, we examined the role of group identification in this process. In two studies, we looked at the case of ‘frontier workers’, that is people who cross a national border every day to work in another country where the salaries are higher thereby achieving a better socio-economic status than in their home-country. Study 1 (N = 176) examined attitudes of French nationals (both the socially mobile and the non-mobile) and of Swiss nationals toward the non-mobile group. As expected, results showed that the mobile French had more negative attitudes than their non-mobile counterparts, but less negative attitudes than the Swiss. In Study 2 (N = 216), we examined ingroup concern at different stages of the social mobility process by comparing the attitudes of French people who worked in Switzerland (mobile individuals), with those who envisioned (anticipators), or not (non-anticipators), to work in Switzerland. The findings revealed that anticipators’ motivation to get personally involved in collective action for their French ingroup was lower than the non-anticipators’, but higher than the mobile individuals’. Moreover, we found that the decrease in ingroup concern across the different stages of social mobility was accounted for by a lower identification with the inherited ingroup. These findings corroborate the deleterious impact of social mobility on attitudes toward a low-status ingroup, and show that the decrease in ingroup concern already occurs among individuals who anticipate moving up the hierarchy. The discussion focuses on the role of the discounting of inherited identities in both the anticipation and the achievement of a higher-status identity

Representações de estudantes universitários sobre alunos cotistas: confronto de valores

The introduction of a policy of quotas in Brazilian universities is recent and, despite being supported by various institutes of education, this kind of policy has faced opposition. The present study has as its objective to investigate what are the values more frequently present in the evaluations university students make of quotas users. Different types of questionnaires were applied to 403 students of a public university of the State of São Paulo, with the purpose of identifying if their representations about this issue varied according to the entry channel to the university, namely, simple exam, preparatory courses for disadvantaged students, and quotas, and according to the target public in question: black students or students from public schools. As a method of analysis, the study made use of the ALCESTE program and, as a complementary resource, content analysis. The results show the rejection to quota policies, since they are perceived as more threatening than policies related to entrance exams and free prep courses. In most of the answers given by the students, a conflict of values becomes clear: merit versus compensatory equality. The entrance exam, solely based on merit, is represented as the fairest system for pupils from public schools, and particularly for black students, to enter the university. Values such as justice, equality and self-effort, upon which most university students base their answers against quotas, are being questioned by affirmative action policies, indicating that reckoning with them is the biggest challenge these policies have to face.A inclusão da política de cotas, nas universidades brasileiras, é recente. Apesar da adesão de várias instituições de ensino, esse tipo de política tem gerado posições contraditórias. Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar quais valores estão mais presentes na avaliação que universitários fazem a respeito de supostos usuários das cotas. Na pesquisa, foram aplicados diferentes tipos de questionários em 403 estudantes de uma universidade pública paulista, os quais objetivaram verificar se suas representações sobre esse tema variavam conforme as possibilidades de ingresso na universidade, a saber: vestibular simples, cursinhos para alunos carentes e cotas e, conforme os públicos-alvo enfocados, negros ou alunos de escolas públicas. Como método de análise, foi utilizado o programa ALCESTE e, como recurso complementar, a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados demonstraram que há uma rejeição às políticas relacionadas às cotas, uma vez que estas foram percebidas como mais ameaçadoras do que aquelas referentes ao vestibular e ao cursinho gratuito. Na grande parte das respostas dadas pelos alunos, fica evidente o conflito de valores: mérito versus igualdade compensatória. O vestibular, baseado apenas no mérito, é representado como o sistema mais justo para ingresso de alunos de escola pública e, principalmente de negros, na universidade. Valores como justiça, igualdade, esforço próprio, sobre os quais a maioria dos universitários respalda suas respostas contrárias às cotas, estão sendo questionados pelas políticas de ação afirmativa, o que indica que enfrentá-los é o grande desafio posto a essas políticas

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries.

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emic-etic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations