Christian S. Crandall

Social norms and the expression and suppression of prejudice: the struggle for internalization.

The authors studied social norms and prejudice using M. Sherif and C. W. Sherifs (1953) group norm theory of attitudes. In 7 studies (N = 1,504), social norms were measured and manipulated to examine their effects on prejudice; both normatively proscribed and normatively prescribed forms of prejudice were included. The public expression of prejudice toward 105 social groups was very highly correlated with social approval of that expression. Participants closely adhere to social norms when expressing prejudice, evaluating scenarios of discrimination, and reacting to hostile jokes. The authors reconceptualized the source of motivation to suppress prejudice in terms of identifying with new reference groups and adapting oneself to fit new norms. Suppression scales seem to measure patterns of concern about group norms rather than personal commitments to reducing prejudice; high suppressors are strong norm followers. Compared with low suppressors, high suppressors follow normative rules more closely and are more strongly influenced by shifts in local social norms. There is much value in continuing the study of normative influence and self-adaptation to social norms, particularly in terms of the group norm theory of attitudes.

Stereotype Threat and Arousal: Effects on Women's Math Performance

Theories of arousal suggest that arousal should decrease performance on difficult tasks and increase performance on easy tasks. An experiment tested the hypothesis that the effects of stereotype threat on performance are due to heightened arousal. The authors hypothesized that telling participants that a math test they are about to take is known to have gender differences would cause stereotype threat in women but not in men. In the experiment, each participant took two tests—a difficult math test and an easy math test. Compared to women in a “no differences” condition, women in the “gender differences” condition scored better on the easy math test and worse on the difficult math test. Mens performance was unaffected by the manipulation. These data are consistent with an arousal-based explanation of stereotype threat effects. Data were inconsistent with expectancy, evaluation apprehension, and persistence explanations of the stereotype threat phenomenon.

Culture, Ideology, and Antifat Attitudes

Research on antifat attitudes in the United States has shown the position of antifat attitudes in an ideological network and the importance of attributions of control to prejudice against fat people. To test the role of blame and ideology in antifat prejudice, the authors compared attitudes among students in the United States and Mexico. Mexican students were significantly less concerned about their own weight and more accepting of fat people than were U.S. students. Antifat attitudes in the United States were part of a social ideology that holds individuals responsible for their life outcomes and may derive from attributions of controllability over life events. Attributions of controllability were significantly less important in Mexico for predicting antifat attitudes, and antipathy toward fat people showed no evidence of being part of an ideological network. Prejudice toward fat people in the United States appears to have a significant ideological component.

An Attribution-Value Model of Prejudice: Anti-Fat Attitudes in Six Nations

The authors propose an Attribution-Value model of prejudice, which hypothesizes that people are prejudiced against groups that they feel have some negative attribute for which they are held responsible. The structure of prejudice against fat people was compared in six nations: Australia, India, Poland, Turkey, the United States of America, and Venezuela. Both a negative cultural value for fatness and a tendency to hold people responsible predicts anti-fat prejudice. Most important, a multiplicative hypothesis was supported—people with both a negative value for fatness and a tendency to hold people responsible were more anti-fat than could be predicted from cultural value and attributions alone. These effects were more pronounced in individualist cultures. The authors develop the Attribution-Value model of prejudice that can apply to prejudice of many sorts across many cultures.

Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism:

The authors test the hypothesis that low-effort thought promotes political conservatism. In Study 1, alcohol intoxication was measured among bar patrons; as blood alcohol level increased, so did political conservatism (controlling for sex, education, and political identification). In Study 2, participants under cognitive load reported more conservative attitudes than their no-load counterparts. In Study 3, time pressure increased participants’ endorsement of conservative terms. In Study 4, participants considering political terms in a cursory manner endorsed conservative terms more than those asked to cogitate; an indicator of effortful thought (recognition memory) partially mediated the relationship between processing effort and conservatism. Together these data suggest that political conservatism may be a process consequence of low-effort thought; when effortful, deliberate thought is disengaged, endorsement of conservative ideology increases.

The Existence Bias

The authors demonstrate that people treat the mere existence of something as evidence of its goodness. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that an existing state is evaluated more favorably than an alternative. Study 3 shows that imagining an event increases estimates of its likelihood, which in turn leads to favorable evaluation; the more likely that something will be, the more positively it is evaluated. Study 4 shows that the more a form is described as prevalent, the more aesthetically attractive is that form. This indicates a causal relationship between aesthetic judgments and existence in a domain lacking choice among alternatives. Study 5 extends the existence bias to gustatory evaluation and demonstrates that the effect is not moderated by valence. Together these studies suggest that mere existence leads to assumptions of goodness; the status quo is seen as good, right, attractive, tasty, and desirable.

Status quo framing increases support for torture

Does describing torture by Americas agents as a longstanding practice—part of the status quo—increase peoples acceptance of the practice? A representative sample of U.S. adults, randomly assigned to conditions in which these practices were described as new or as having been used for more than 40 years, read about the use of torture in questioning of detainees. Torture described as a longstanding practice had more support and was seen as more effective and justifiable than the same torture described as new. Characterization of practices as longstanding—even if unpopular or disgraceful—enhances their support and increases their perceived justification.

The Liking of Foods as a Result of Exposure: Eating Doughnuts in Alaska

Abstract Although researchers have suggested that mere exposure may partially account for the strong regional and cultural food preferences human beings exhibit, the existing literature is equivocal on this point. To demonstrate the role of exposure in cultural food preferences, experiments must demonstrate true liking rather than relative preferences. This field study in an Alaskan fishing and cannery village lent support to the hypothesis by demonstrating that an increased rate of consumption of doughnuts in a free-feeding situation corresponded to the number of trials subjects (N = 225) had with the food. Problems with the design are discussed, and it is proposed that cultural flavor markers may become liked as a result of exposure to them.

Balance theory, unit relations, and attribution: The underlying integrity of Heiderian theory.

Fritz Heiders theory of social perception is reviewed, and the close connection between attribution, balance, and unit relationship are examined, primarily through Heiders own writings. Attribution and balance have historically been considered separate theories, but the authors show how these two ideas, in conjunction with the idea of unit formation, create a broad-ranging and integrated theory of social perception. Attributions were seen by Heider as a particular kind of unit relationship, and people make attributions that preserve an affectively consistent view of others. The authors then show how this integrated understanding of Heiders ideas generates new predictions and informs a wide range of clinical, personality, and social psychological phenomena, as a reminder of the modern power of Heiders theory.

Social ecology of similarity: Big schools, small schools and social relationships

Social ecologies shape the way people initiate and maintain social relationships. Settings with much opportunity will lead to more fine-grained similarity among friends; less opportunity leads to less similarity. We compare two ecological contexts—a large, relatively diverse state university versus smaller colleges in the same state—to test the hypothesis that a larger pool of available friendship choices will lead to greater similarity within dyads. Participants in the large campus sample reported substantially more perceived ability to move in and out of relationships compared to participants in the small colleges sample. Dyads were significantly more similar on attitudes, beliefs, and health behaviors in the large campus than in the small colleges sample. Our findings reveal an irony—greater human diversity within an environment leads to less personal diversity within dyads. Local social ecologies create their own “cultures” that affect how human relationships are formed.