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Simpson B, Montgomery B, Melamed D. Reputations for treatment of outgroup members can prevent the emergence of political segregation in cooperative networks. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7721. [PMID: 38001105 PMCID: PMC10674010 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43486-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Reputation systems promote cooperation and tie formation in social networks. But how reputations affect cooperation and the evolution of networks is less clear when societies are characterized by fundamental, identity-based, social divisions like those centered on politics in the contemporary U.S. Using a large web-based experiment with participants (N = 1073) embedded in networks where each tie represents the opportunity to play a dyadic iterated prisoners' dilemma, we investigate how cooperation and network segregation varies with whether and how reputation systems track behavior toward members of the opposing political party (outgroup members). As predicted, when participants know others' political affiliation, early cooperation patterns show ingroup favoritism. As a result, networks become segregated based on politics. However, such ingroup favoritism and network-level political segregation is reduced in conditions in which participants know how others behave towards participants from both their own party and participants from the other party. These findings have implications for our understanding of reputation systems in polarized contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brent Simpson
- Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA.
| | - Bradley Montgomery
- Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - David Melamed
- Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
- Translational Data Analytics Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
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António R, Guerra R, Cameron L, Moleiro C. Imagined and extended contact experiences and adolescent bystanders' behavioral intentions in homophobic bullying episodes. Aggress Behav 2023; 49:110-126. [PMID: 36332082 PMCID: PMC10099952 DOI: 10.1002/ab.22059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Revised: 10/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Bystanders' helping interventions in bias-based bullying are rare, although they have the potential to intervene on behalf of the victim and quickly stop the aggression. Two studies tested, experimentally, the impact of adolescents' imagined (Study 1, N = 113, Mage = 16.17) and extended contact experiences (Study 2, N = 174, Mage = 15.79) on assertive bystanders' behavioral intentions in the context of homophobic bullying, an under-researched but highly detrimental behavior that emerges mainly during early adolescence. Potential mediators (empathic concern, social contagion concerns, and masculinity/femininity threat) were also examined. Results showed that female younger participants revealed more behavioral intentions to help victims of homophobic bullying when asked to imagine an interaction with an outgroup member (Study 1). Younger participants revealed less masculinity/femininity threat in the positive extended contact condition, and female participants revealed less empathic concern in the negative extended contact condition (Study 2). Overall, these findings identify specific conditions (e.g., younger females) where indirect contact interventions (i.e., extended and imagined) are likely to have a stronger impact. Age and sex differences were found to illustrate how adolescents vary in their behavioral intentions, empathic concern, and threat; and also highlight the need to further examine age and sex differences regarding responses to homophobic bullying episodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel António
- Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.,Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities and Inclusion (APPsyCI), Ispa- Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Rita Guerra
- Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | | | - Carla Moleiro
- Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
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Tercan M, Bisagno E, Cocco VM, Kaçmaz T, Turnuklu A, Stathi S, Vezzali L. Reducing prejudice toward Syrian refugee children: A vicarious contact intervention among Turkish elementary school children. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 49:564-587. [PMID: 33225470 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2020] [Revised: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We conducted an experimental intervention to test the effectiveness of vicarious contact in the relationship between Turkish and Syrian elementary school children; the participants were Turkish children. We used a mixed-methods approach, investigating effects by using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Participants in the experimental condition were asked to read stories on positive contact between Turkish and Syrian children over the course of six weekly sessions. The results revealed that vicarious contact, compared to a control condition where participants did not engage in any activity, led to greater intentions to help outgroup members. Importantly, effects only emerged among children who reported higher initial negative outgroup attitudes. Results from qualitative data revealed that vicarious contact produced richer, more positive, and complex representations of the relationships and friendships between groups. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mustafa Tercan
- Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Elisa Bisagno
- University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy
| | | | | | | | | | - Loris Vezzali
- University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy
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Cocco VM, Bisagno E, Di Bernardo GA, Cadamuro A, Riboldi SD, Crapolicchio E, Trifiletti E, Stathi S, Vezzali L. Comparing story reading and video watching as two distinct forms of vicarious contact: An experimental intervention among elementary school children. BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 60:74-94. [PMID: 32677124 DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Revised: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Research has shown that vicarious contact, that is observing an interaction between ingroup and outgroup members, can improve intergroup relations. Although vicarious contact has been operationalized in different ways, mainly via story reading or video watching, an experimental comparison of these different strategies is still missing. We conducted a school intervention with the aim of comparing the two most used forms of vicarious contact, namely story reading and video watching. Elementary schoolchildren without disabilities (N = 292) were assigned to one of three different conditions: reading a story; watching a video; control. In the two vicarious contact conditions, participants read or watched the story of a child with disability becoming friends with children without disabilities; in the control condition, participants only completed the dependent measures. Results revealed that, in general, both vicarious contact conditions were equally effective in improving outgroup attitudes and behavioural intentions. In addition, they operated with the same strength through the same underlying processes (IOS, ingroup norms). We discuss theoretical and practical implications in the context of vicarious contact as a prejudice-reduction intervention.
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Wang Y, Schubert TW, Quadflieg S. Behavioral and neural evidence for an evaluative bias against other people's mundane interracial encounters. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:1329-1339. [PMID: 31993667 PMCID: PMC7137724 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Revised: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Evaluating other people’s social encounters from a third-person perspective is an ubiquitous activity of daily life. Yet little is known about how these evaluations are affected by racial bias. To overcome this empirical lacuna, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment used evaluative priming to show that both Black (n = 44) and White Americans (n = 44) assess the same mundane encounters (e.g. two people chatting) less favorably when they involve a Black and a White individual rather than two Black or two White individuals. The second experiment used functional magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate that both Black (n = 46) and White Americans (n = 42) respond with reduced social reward processing (i.e. lower activity in the ventral striatum) and enhanced mentalizing (e.g. higher activity in the bilateral temporal–parietal junction) toward so-called cross-race relative to same-race encounters. By combining unobtrusive measures from social psychology and social neuroscience, this work demonstrates that racial bias can affect impression formation even at the level of the dyad.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Thomas W Schubert
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Susanne Quadflieg
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.,Division of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
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Bagci SC, Stathi S, Vezzali L, Turnuklu A, Piyale ZE. I (dis)like the way you (dis)like them: The role of extended contact on social distance and attitudes towards the ingroup. BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 60:95-120. [PMID: 32314422 DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2019] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
While extended intergroup contact has been commonly studied in the context of prejudice reduction, less is known about its implications for processes related to the ingroup. Through three correlational and one experimental studies (total N = 897) conducted in two different intergroup contexts (Turkey and United Kingdom), we investigated whether extended intergroup contact relates to social distance and attitudes towards ingroup members as a function of outgroup attitudes. We also investigated ingroup identification and perceived ingroup morality as potential mediators in these associations. Correlational studies demonstrated that especially when outgroup attitudes were more negative, participants' positive (but not negative) extended contact was related to a more negative evaluation of the ingroup; whereas when outgroup attitudes were more positive, extended contact was associated with positive attitudes towards the ingroup. We found experimental evidence for the suggested relationships in relation to ingroup social distance. Findings are discussed in the light of vicarious dissonance theory and deprovincialization hypothesis.
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Vezzali L, Di Bernardo GA, Stathi S, Visintin EP, Hewstone M. Using intercultural videos of direct contact to implement vicarious contact: A school-based intervention that improves intergroup attitudes. GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS 2018. [DOI: 10.1177/1368430218809885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
We aimed to create an engaging and dynamic intervention for schools that uses videos of direct school peer contact to implement a vicarious contact intervention. Participants were ethnic majority (Italian) and minority (immigrant) high school students ( N = 485; age ranging from 14 to 22 years old, Mage = 17.24 years), who were asked to watch and evaluate videos created by peers from their school for a competition for the best video on intercultural friendships. Results revealed that vicarious contact, relative to a control condition where participants were not shown any videos, improved outgroup attitudes, reduced negative outgroup stereotypes, and increased willingness to engage in contact with the outgroup. These effects only emerged when intercultural friendships in the videos were salient. Inclusion of the other in the self, but neither intergroup anxiety nor fear of rejection by the outgroup, significantly mediated the effect of the videos on outcomes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Miles Hewstone
- University of Oxford, UK
- University of Newcastle, Australia
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Depersonalized extended contact and injunctive norms about cross-group friendship impact intergroup orientations. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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