Fabio Fasoli

Cleansing the Soul by Hurting the Flesh The Guilt-Reducing Effect of Pain

Pain purifies. History is replete with examples of ritualized or self-inflicted pain aimed at achieving purification (Glucklich, 2001). Some people feel that they can achieve reparation for their sins by simply experiencing pain; this may be why seeking self-punishment is a basic response to feelings of guilt (Freud, 1916/1957; Nelissen & Zeelenberg, 2009). Why are pain and suffering believed to serve as atonement for sin? One reason may be that the experience of physical pain alleviates feelings of guilt associated with immoral behavior (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). There has been very little research on the psychological benefits of experiencing pain. We tested two hypotheses relating to when and why people are likely to be motivated to experience pain—that people should be more motivated to subject themselves to a painful experience when they are reminded of their own immoral deeds, and that the experience of pain should reduce feelings of guilt.

Losing Our Humanity The Self-Dehumanizing Consequences of Social Ostracism

People not only dehumanize others, they also dehumanize the self in response to their own harmful behavior. We examine this self-dehumanization effect across four studies. Studies 1 and 2 show that when participants are perpetrators of social ostracism, they view themselves as less human compared with when they engage in nonaversive interpersonal interactions. Perceived immorality of their behavior mediated this effect. Studies 3 and 4 highlight the behavioral consequences of self-dehumanization. The extent to which participants saw themselves as less human after perpetrating social ostracism predicted subsequent prosocial behavior. Studies 2 to 4 also demonstrate that consequences of self-dehumanization occur independently of any effects of self-esteem or mood. The findings are discussed in relation to previous work on dehumanization and self-perception. We conclude that in the context of immoral actions (self) dehumanization may be functional.

Enhancing Masculinity by Slandering Homosexuals The Role of Homophobic Epithets in Heterosexual Gender Identity

The current studies investigate the effects of homophobic labels on the self-perception of heterosexual males, hypothesizing that when exposed to homophobic epithets, they are motivated to underline their masculinity and claim a distinctly heterosexual identity by taking distance from homosexuals and, to a lesser degree, from women. Heterosexual male participants were subliminally (Study 1) and supraliminally (Study 2) primed either by a homophobic epithet or by a category label, and completed the Traditional Beliefs About Gender and Gender Identity scale. Participants stressed their heterosexual identity, but not their gender distinctiveness, when exposed to homophobic epithets, compared to category labels. Study 2 demonstrated that the relation between the homophobic label and the participants’ heterosexual identity was mediated by how negatively they reacted to the antigay label. Heterosexual identity was enhanced in reaction to homophobic labels but not to an equally derogatory label referring to regional identity. Results are discussed within an intergroup framework.

Labelling and discrimination: Do homophobic epithets undermine fair distribution of resources?

This research investigated the behavioural consequences of homophobic epithets. After exposure to either a category or a homophobic label, heterosexual participants allocated fictitious resources to two different prevention programmes: one mainly relevant to heterosexuals (sterility prevention), the other to homosexuals (AIDS-HIV prevention). Responses on allocation matrices served to identify strategies that favoured the ingroup over the outgroup. Results indicated stronger ingroup-favouritism in the homophobic than in the category label condition. This study shows that discriminatory group labels have tangible effects on peoples monetary behaviours in intergroup contexts, increasing their tendency to favour the ingroup when distributing resources.

The Impact of Homophobic Labels on the Internalized Homophobia and Body Image of Gay Men The Moderation Role of Coming-Out

This study investigates whether homophobic labels and category-neutral terms are differently appraised as a function of levels of coming-out. After reporting their coming-out status, participants were exposed to either homophobic or category labels and reported their semantic associations, level of internalized homophobia, and body perceptions. Results show that labels were more positively evaluated as participants’ coming-out increased. High–coming-out individuals reported higher internalized homophobia and body concerns in the homophobic rather than category labels condition. Low–coming-out individuals displayed the reverse pattern.

Stereotypical Disease Inferences From Gay/Lesbian Versus Heterosexual Voices

ABSTRACT Voice is a cue used to categorize speakers as members of social groups, including sexual orientation. We investigate the consequences of such voice-based categorization, showing that people infer stereotype-congruent disease likelihood on the basis of vocal information and without explicit information about the speaker’s sexual orientation. Study 1 and Study 2 reveal that participants attribute diseases to gay/lesbian and heterosexual men and women in line with stereotypes. Gay speakers were more likely to be associated with gay and female diseases, and lesbian speakers with male diseases. These findings demonstrate that likelihood to suffer from diseases is erroneously, but stereotypically, inferred from targets’ vocal information.

Why did Italians protest against Berlusconi's sexist behaviour? The role of sexist beliefs and emotional reactions in explaining women and men's pathways to protest

By taking advantage of the Italian protest in 2009 in reaction to the behaviour of then Prime Minister Berlusconi, in this research, we investigated the role of sexist beliefs (i.e., hostile sexism, complementary gender differentiation, protective paternalism, and heterosexual intimacy) and group-based emotional reactions (i.e., anger, humiliation, and sadness) to womens and mens action mobilization against public forms of sexism. The findings of this study suggest that women and men engaged in this protest for different reasons. Women mobilized to express their anger at Berlusconis sexist behaviour, an emotion related to the condemnation of hostile sexist views and benevolent sexist beliefs about heterosexual intimacy. In contrast, the strength of mens participation in the protest was affected by humiliation, an emotion related to the condemnation of hostile sexist beliefs and support for complementary gender differentiation. This emotional path suggests that men likely protested to restore their reputations. These findings underline the role of sexist beliefs and group-based emotions in transforming the condemnation of a sexist event into action mobilization against sexism for both women and men.

When Characters Impact on Dubbing: The Role of Sexual Stereotypes on Voice Actor/Actress’ Preferences

Dubbing is a procedure through which an original actor’s voice is replaced with that of a voice actor, usually speaking a different language. Dubbing is not only an adaptation to language but also to cultural beliefs. Across two studies, we analyzed how some Italian participants would prefer a television series’ character to sound. In Study 1, participants read a male/female character description that was manipulated according to gender and sexual stereotypes in order to be masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral. Next, participants were asked to indicate their preference for three voice actors/actresses who sounded heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or ambivalent. Study 2 tested the interplay between a character’s description and the voice of the English-speaking (gay/lesbian vs. heterosexual sounding) actor/actress who played the role in the original television series on dubbing preferences. The results of both studies showed that a character’s description affected dubbing preferences. Participants preferred the gay/lesbian-sounding voice actor/actress to the counter-stereotypical character (i.e., a feminine man or a masculine woman) and the heterosexual-sounding voice actor/actress to the stereotypical character. Interestingly, at least for male targets, the original actor’s voice itself affected the preference for voice actors in the same way. This work suggests that dubbing can maintain and reinforce stereotypes.

Voice and Prejudice: The Social Costs of Auditory Gaydar

ABSTRACT It is a widespread belief that individuals are able to detect other people’s sexual orientation from vocal information alone (auditory gaydar). We argue that auditory gaydar, although often inaccurate, leads to stereotyping, avoidance, and discrimination of gay/lesbian-sounding speakers. Much like “social vision,” these voice-based inferences are driven by two distinct processes—a direct feature-based path and an indirect path mediated by categorization. As a way to either underline their social identity or prevent stigmatization, gay/lesbian speakers tend to modulate their voice depending on the interlocutor and on their conversational goals. Together, our findings suggest that vocal information plays a subtle but powerful role in intra- and intergroup communication.

Conosco persone omosessuali. Una ricerca esplorativa degli effetti del contatto sull'omofobia e sostegno ai diritti LGBT in Italia

Diverse ricerche, condotte quasi esclusivamente negli USA, hanno evidenziato come conoscere persone omosessuali sia associato a minor pregiudizio verso gli omosessuali. La presente ricerca si propone di esplorare questo legame in un campione di persone italiane, distinguendo tra quantita di contatti e vicinanza con la persona omosessuale meglio conosciuta. Lo studio ha visto la partecipazione di 125 persone eterosessuali, che avevano almeno un contatto con una persona omosessuale, e ha considerato diversi indicatori di omofobia. I risultati indicano che la vicinanza con una persona omosessuale, piuttosto che la quantita di contatti, e associata a un minor pregiudizio sessuale nei confronti delle persone omosessuali e a un maggior sostegno verso le questioni della comunita LGBT, in modo particolare all’adozione per le coppie omosessuali. Il contatto, invece, non risulta associato alla percezione che gli omosessuali siano oggetto di discriminazione. Le implicazioni teoriche e applicative di questi risultati vengono discusse. Parole chiave: contatto intergruppi, vicinanza, pregiudizio sessuale, omofobia, LGBT.