How we perceive us determines how we like you: mental representation of the ingroup as predictor of intergroup evaluation

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde untersucht, inwiefern die mentale Repräsentation der Eigengruppe die Favorisierung der Eigengruppe relativ zur Fremdgruppe beeinflusst. Die theoretische Grundlage bildet das Eigengruppenprojektionsmodell (Mummendey &Wenzel, 1999). Es wurde angenommen, dass mit steigender Variabilität und Komplexität der mentalen Eigengruppenrepräsentation die wahrgenommene Prototypikalität der Eigengruppe für eine übergeordnete Kategorie sinkt. Eine zweite Hypothese testet, ob der Zusammenhang zwischen relativer Eigengruppenprototypikalität und Eigengruppenfavorisierung mit steigender Variabilität und Komplexität der Eigengruppe sinkt. In vier experimentellen Studien wurden diese Hypothesen geprüft. Zusammengenommen bestätigen die Ergebnisse vor allem die zweite Hypothese

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures using palm olein as biotemplate

Background: A green approach to synthesize nanomaterials using biotemplates has been subjected to intense research due to several advantages. Palm olein as a biotemplate offers the benefits of eco-friendliness, low-cost and scale-up for large scale production. Therefore, the effect of palm olein on morphology and surface properties of ZnO nanostructures were investigated. Results: The results indicate that palm olein as a biotemplate can be used to modify the shape and size of ZnO particles synthesized by hydrothermal method. Different morphology including flake-, flower- and three dimensional star-like structures were obtained. FTIR study indicated the reaction between carboxyl group of palm olein and zinc species had taken place. Specific surface area enhanced while no considerable change were observed in optical properties. Conclusion: Phase-pure ZnO particles were successfully synthesized using palm olein as soft biotemplating agent by hydrothermal method. The physico-chemical properties of the resulting ZnO particles can be tuned using the ratio of palm olein to Zn cation

Of Caucasians, Asians, and giraffes : the influence of categorization and target valence on social projection

Past research has indicated that social projection is moderated by categorization, with more projection onto ingroups than onto outgroups. However, a few studies have reported elevated levels of projection even onto outgroups. In line with recent evidence, we hypothesized that positive target valence is the key feature of conditions that elicit projection onto outgroups. The present research extends previous findings by testing whether the effect of valence occurs independent of categorization, with increased levels of projection onto positive ingroup and non-ingroup targets alike. We designed two experiments in which target valence was manipulated by means of evaluative conditioning. Category membership was varied by using faces of Caucasians, Asians, and giraffes. The results supported our valence hypothesis. Counter-intuitively, we also found higher levels of projection onto giraffes than onto humans. These findings suggest that current cognition-based models of projection are not sufficient to account for the whole range of projection phenomena. </jats:p

Cognitive components of ingroup projection : Prototype projection contributes to biased prototypicality judgments in group perception

This research investigated whether relative ingroup prototypicality (i.e., the tendency to perceive one’s own ingroup as more prototypical of a superordinate category than the outgroup) can result from a prototype-based versus exemplar-based mental representation of social categories, rather than from ingroup membership per se as previously suggested by the ingroup projection model. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a prototype-based group was perceived as more prototypical of a superordinate category than an exemplar-based group supporting the hypothesis that an intergroup context is not necessary for biased prototypicality judgments. Experiment 3 introduced an intergroup context in a minimal-group-like paradigm. The findings demonstrated that both the kind of cognitive representation and motivational processes contribute to biased prototypicality judgments in intergroup settings. </jats:p