CLASS 16
MOTIVES EMOTIONS AND INTERGROUP
RELATIONS
Religion, the Forbidden, and Sublimation
Cohen, Kim, & Hudson, 2014
Sublimation “Favors” Protestants
Protestants, more than Catholics and Jews
Regard taboo thoughts (not just deeds) as sinful
Place moral weight on thoughts and feelings, rather than actions
Judge people who think taboo thoughts to be sinful
Believe bad thought  bad deeds
Protestants more likely to suppress “bad” thoughts
Salvation Through Action, and Only Through Action
Salvation from sin through work
Religion does not provide ritualized means for confession
SUBLIMATION: Past and Present
Freud: Creativity allows forbidden to be expressed in disguised form.
Moderns:
Suppressed ideation merges with “System 1” pool, engages with other
material, leads to creative output.
Incubation in creativity: Mind works on unresolved issues
unconsciously, as background process.
Hey: Unresolved issues reminds us of what Lewinian
construct?
Zeigarnik Effect
Experiment Design
Subjects: Protestants, Catholics, Jews – all males, who have sisters
Procedure:
Ss view photos, as if from family album
Ss write brief caption, as if from personal past
Boy in picture = self; girl in picture = Sister OR Girlfriend
Photos of girl: moderately plain vs. swimsuit model
Outcome Measures: Career choices; creative tasks (clay, poetry)
Sister
Girlfriend
Plain
No threat
No threat
Sexy
Threat
No threat
Results
Threatened Protestants:
1. Rated creative jobs (architect, designer, author) more desirable
2. Created more creative sculptures
3. Created more creative poetry
Basic pattern replicates for taboo thoughts related to hostility
Sculptures:
“Threatened” Protestants more creative than Catholics, Jews
“Chicago style”
“The life”
Stereotype Threat
Aronson & McGlone, 2009
Stereotype Threat Defined
Psychological discomfort people experience when:
a. Harsh stereotypes applied to their group (e.g., ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation)
b. Stereotypes relate to task that person is attempted to master (e.g. math test, writing)
c. Stereotypes made salient in context of task
Stereotype Threats can be self-fulfilling
a. Threat can disrupt performance, thus confirming stereotype
b. Threat can make performance domain aversive, leading to dis-identification
Demonstrations of Stereotype Threat
Steele & Aronson, 1995
Prediction: Stereotype loses potency if task is not stereotype-diagnostic
Method:
Black and White undergrads complete GRE-level verbal items
[Stereotype: Blacks less verbally competent]
Diagnostic condition: Test is IQ type test, truly diagnostic about verbal skills
Non-diagnostic cond: Test is not diagnostic, unrelated to intelligence
Diagnostic
Non-Diagnostic
White
No threat
No threat
Black
Threat
No threat
Performance as a Function of Subject Race
and Test Diagnosticity
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
IQ Diagnostic
Result is # items correctly solved
Black
White
Not IQ Diagnostic
Demonstrations of Stereotype Threat
Steele & Aronson, 1995
Prediction: Stereotype loses potency if task is not stereotype-diagnostic
Method:
Black and White undergrads complete GRE-level verbal items
[Stereotype: Blacks less verbally competent]
No threat prime: Subjects NOT asked to report their ethnicity before test
Threat prime: Subjects Are asked to report their ethnicity before test
No-Threat Prime
Threat Prime
White
No threat
No threat
Black
No threat
Threat
Performance as a Function of Subject Race
and Threat Prime
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Threat Prime
Result is # items correctly solved
Black
White
No Threat Prime
Stereotype Threat Applies to
ANY Group Subject to Hostile Stereotypes
Women in math and science
Latinos
Native Americans
Low-income Whites
Elderly (memory tasks)
Stereotype Threat of Being a Strereotyper:
Whites’ Feedback to Minorities
(Harber, 1998)
Favorability (Z-units)
1
0.8
Content
0.6
Mechanics
0.4
0.2
0
Black
Writer
White
Writer
Individual Differences in Stereotype Threat Vulnerability
Blacks who have high expectations of racial prejudice
Internal LOC (as possible mediator). Why would this be?
Mediating Mechanisms in Stereotype Threat Vulnerability
Anxiety:
Self-reports– nada
Psychophysio (Blood-Pressure)—Blacks in threat condition show heightened arousal
Women under threat do BETTER, but only during EASY test. Why?
Yerkes Dotson function: Performance increases for moderate arousal
Expectations: Little to no evidence of this
Effort: Little to no evidence to support reduced effort
Priming effects: S-T may have some priming effects, but largely limited to Stereotype targets.
Terror Management Theory and Prejudice
Greenberg et al., 2009
Human’s Existential Dilemma
Humans are like other animals
a. Mortal
b. Compelled to flee from mortal danger
Humans are unlike other animals
a. Aware of mortality b. Aware cannot flee mortal danger of mortality
Animal compulsion to flee + awareness of inescapable mortality  Existential Terror
Terror Management Theory (TMT)
To cope with mortality angst, humans seek death transcendence
World view, supplied by culture, provides routes to death transcendence
People Who Challenge World Views Represent Existential Threats
When mortality is made salient (MS), people need to hold on to beliefs
Those who challenge beliefs undermine our existential shelter
Those who challenge beliefs are therefore attacked, but mainly when mortality is salient
Terror Management Research Design
Mortality Salience (MS) induction
Write about what will happen to you as you physically die.
Write about the emotions aroused in you by the thought of your own death.
Control Condition
Write about going to the dentist for painful dental work.
Write about the emotions aroused in you by the thought of this dental exam.
Outcome Measure
Attitudes toward group that challenges own world-view, or other means of
death transcendence (e.g., career).
Mortality Salience (MS) Induces Hostility Towards:
Other religions: Jews, Moslems
Those who evoke reminders of animal nature: Women (for men), elderly (for young)
Other nationalities: Germans (for Italians), Americans (for Iranians), Middle Easterners (for USA)
Own in-groups: For those whose ancestry deviates for majority-culture
MS also induces attraction towards:
Leaders, others who:
a. Support world view
b. Provide definite, clear, uncomplicated world view
Moderators of, Challenges to, TMT
Individual Differences in susceptibility to MS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Intolerance for ambiguity / need for certainty
Depression
Low Self Esteem
Poorly attached
Challenge to TMT
1. Mortality threat or self-esteem threat?
2. Loss of life or loss of self?
Remedies to MS
1. Relativistic world view
2. Boost resources (YES!): Self-esteem, self worth, attachment