Valuing Diversity: An Undervalued Outcome of and Potential Precursor to Intergroup Contact

As diversity continues to increase across Western societies, prejudice persists. While public debate continues, meta-analytic evidence shows that identity-conscious approaches – those that recognise and appreciate differences – lead to reduced prejudice and better intergroup relations than identity-blind approaches. However, majority-status groups often prefer not to see colour or other differences. Therefore, the question of how a valuing of diversity can be developed matters. Intergroup contact might help, given that it is one of the best-established routes to prejudice reduction and an improvement of intergroup relations, yet to date, it has rarely been linked to diversity beliefs. This thesis assesses the relationship between diversity beliefs and intergroup contact from various angles. It starts by asking about the primary direction of influence. So far, valuing diversity has been conceptualised as both a precursor to and outcome of intergroup contact, yet longitudinal or experimental research is very rare. Using longitudinal data, I show that positive and negative contact predict changes in the valuing of diversity over time, while the reverse paths are weaker and not statistically significant. From there, I test whether changes in valuing diversity can serve as a mediator that explains various effects of intergroup contact and show that such changes are particularly relevant when it comes to understanding the association between intergroup contact and cognitive outcomes. Regarding implications for practice, I show that a large-scale contact intervention increases the valuing of diversity, particularly when participants enter the intervention with high self-expansion orientation and engage in conversations about differences. However, a targeted intervention to promote the valuing of diversity through promoting conversations about the value of differences yielded mixed results, suggesting that the pathways to change are different for majority- and minority-status participants and that further intervention research is needed. As highlighted through a single-paper meta-analysis at the end, the thesis provides consistent evidence for a model according to which positive and negative contact experiences shape the valuing of diversity, which then in turn shapes outgroup attitudes. I also present some evidence (both longitudinal and cross-sectional) that valuing diversity might increase intergroup approach intentions, and might thus result in increased intergroup contact over a longer timeframe. This suggests that conditions for the emergence of a virtuous cycle with self-reinforcing increases in positive contact and in valuing diversity might be created. With that, I highlight a novel pathway by which intergroup contact can contribute to the improvement of intergroup relations. Apart from advancing theory, this can inform the design of contact interventions

Making diversity work: transforming assessment and selection to hire for culture-add, not culture-fit

Many organisations are striving to diversify their workforces, hoping to counter inequality while boosting team performance. Assessment tools and processes have been adapted to reduce the impact of bias, yet to realise the benefits of diversity, more is needed. The hiring paradigm needs to shift from assessing competence and culture fit to assessing each candidate’s unique contribution to an organisation and team – i.e. their culture add. While this idea has gained some currency in recent years, it has far-reaching implications for assessment and recruiting that are discussed here – a key implication being that no (individual-level) test can exist to assess culture add and rank candidates accordingly, so that assessment needs to be approached more broadly. This needs to be considered alongside the current rise of algorithmic selection tools, and occupational psychologists are called on to play an active part in ensuring that greater diversity comes about and that its potential benefits are realised

{{Re}} Groups of diverse problem-solvers outperform groups of highest-ability problem-solvers - most of the time

Problem-solving teams are becoming increasingly diverse, which has been suggested to improve performance. Pioneering computational work by Hong & Page (2004) suggested that diversity indeed trumps ability when it comes to finding the peaks in a random landscape. Recently, Grim and colleagues (2019) extended the model to consider more structured landscapes and suggested that the original claim only holds under limited circumstances. In this paper, I replicate the main findings of the two works, and provide modular, extensible code to facilitate future research into this paradigm. Overall, the replications were successful, even though a closer look at the data suggests that the limitations highlighted by Grim and colleagues are less severe than initially presented, so that diversity on the whole still appears to trump ability within this paradigm. The code for the agent-based models and my analyses is available on https://github.com/LukasWallrich/diversity_abm_replicatio

Adolescents challenging discrimination: The benefits of a perspective-taking and action-planning intervention on self-efficacy

Discrimination is widespread and often goes unchallenged because bystanders do not recognize the need to intervene or do not know how to intervene. This field experiment with adolescents (N = 639) tested a group discussion designed to increase perceived importance and self-efficacy around challenging general discrimination. The intervention, which involved perspective-taking and action-planning, was tested with delayed measures against active control conditions, namely sessions on self-disclosure and civic engagement. It led to greater self-efficacy, particularly among White participants

Civic understanding mediates of the effect of educational tracks on voting intentions in German schools

Across democracies, education predicts electoral participation and political interest. Here, German students on the pre-vocational and pre-academic educational tracks are compared to show how these differences emerge, and thus indicate how they can be addressed. In a Preliminary Study, a large dataset (3747 participants) revealed that there is a gap in political interest between the tracks, and that this predicts a gap in voting intentions. Study 1 (228 participants) tested three mediators of the relationship between educational tracks and voting intentions. Differences in civic understanding primarily explained the link between educational track and voting intentions. Lastly, in Study 2, 23 semi-structured interviews explored how limited civic understanding constrains political engagement among students on the pre-vocational track, indicating that a narrow understanding of power and a lack of sociological imagination are key. The finding that the gaps emerge due to differences in civic understanding, which is teachable, suggests that schools can play an effective role in addressing them. Limitations and implications are discussed

Painting all foreigners with one brush? How the salience of Muslims and refugees shapes judgements

Attitudes towards foreigners are widely researched, most frequently in survey studies. However, in that context it is often unclear which attitude object respondents have in mind, and thus what their answers refer to. This paper uses a representative sample of 3,195 Germans who reported which groups they think of when thinking about foreigners living in Germany. We found that Germans disproportionately think of groups who are Muslim, and that such salience is associated with more negative attitudes towards “foreigners.” This holds true when controlling for attitudes towards Muslims; in fact, thinking of Muslim groups when thinking about foreigners moderates the relationship between anti-Muslim and anti-foreigner attitudes. The relationships were weaker when respondents think of Turks, a large and long-standing minority in Germany, suggesting an attenuation of the links through familiarity or intergroup contacts. No relationship was found between thinking of refugees and attitudes towards foreigners. Implications for research are discussed, particularly regarding the interpretation of self-reported attitudes towards foreigners and the study of populist strategies

The Replication Database:Documenting the Replicability of Psychological Science

In psychological science, replicability—repeating a study with a new sample achieving consistent results (Parsons et al., 2022)—is critical for affirming the validity of scientific findings. Despite its importance, replication efforts are few and far between in psychological science with many attempts failing to corroborate past findings. This scarcity, compounded by the difficulty in accessing replication data, jeopardizes the efficient allocation of research resources and impedes scientific advancement. Addressing this crucial gap, we present the Replication Database (https://forrt-replications.shinyapps.io/fred_explorer), a novel platform hosting 1,239 original findings paired with replication findings. The infrastructure of this database allows researchers to submit, access, and engage with replication findings. The database makes replications visible, easily findable via a graphical user interface, and tracks replication rates across various factors, such as publication year or journal. This will facilitate future efforts to evaluate the robustness of psychological research

The replication database: documenting the replicability of psychological science

In psychological science, replicability — repeating a study with a new sample achieving consistent results (Parsons et al., 2022) — is critical for affirming the validity of scientific findings. Despite its importance, replication efforts are few and far between in psychological science with many attempts failing to corroborate past findings. This scarcity, compounded by the difficulty in accessing replication data, jeopardizes the efficient allocation of research resources and impedes scientific advancement. Addressing this crucial gap, we present the Replication Database (https://forrt-replications.shinyapps.io/fred_explorer), a novel platform hosting 1,239 original findings paired with replication findings. The infrastructure of this database allows researchers to submit, access, and engage with replication findings. The database makes replications visible, easily findable via a graphical user interface, and tracks replication rates across various factors, such as publication year or journal. This will facilitate future efforts to evaluate the robustness of psychological research

The dynamic relationship between valuing diversity and intergroup contact: is valuing diversity a precursor to contact and mediator of diverse contact effects?

Valuing diversity and intergroup contact predict less prejudice and discrimination, yet their relationship deserves closer attention. The evidence suggests that valuing diversity and (interest in) intergroup contact are associated, but the directionality is not clear, and it has not been tested whether the established effects of contact come about through changes in valuing diversity. We address this in three studies. In Study 1 (N = 211), using longitudinal survey data, both positive and negative contact affected the value placed on diversity over time, while valuing diversity did not significantly predict the frequency of future contact. Studies 2 (N = 224) and 3 (N = 2,618) consequently considered valuing diversity as a mediator and showed that it mediates the relationships of intergroup contact with prejudice, behavioral intentions, and policy support. Our results increase the understanding of pathways from intergroup contact to intergroup relations and offer a lever that contact interventions can target

Valuing diversity: an undervalued mediator of intergroup contact

Valuing diversity and intergroup contact predict less prejudice and discrimination, yet theirrelationship deservescloserattention. There is some evidence that valuing diversity and intergroup contact are associated, butit has not been tested whether the established effects of contact come about through changes in valuing diversity. We address thisin two studies(total N= 2,835)that consider valuing diversity as a mediator of intergroup contact. They show that valuingdiversity mediates the relationships of intergroup contact withprejudice, bystander intervention intentions,policy supportand approach intentions.Our results increase the understanding of pathwaysfrom intergroup contact to intergroup relations and offer a lever that contact interventions can target