Jared B. Kenworthy

Intergroup Trust in Northern Ireland

Although prominent political agendas have placed a great deal of importance on building trust in postconflict areas, there has been a lack of empirical research on its role in areas of intergroup conflict. The authors conducted two studies to examine the relationship between trust and intergroup behavioral tendencies—and the potential for intergroup contact to build trust in Northern Ireland. Study 1 showed that outgroup trust mediates the impact of intergroup contact on behavioral tendencies toward the outgroup. Study 2 revealed the importance of trusting the outgroup over simply liking the outgroup; establishing outgroup trust is crucial, as trust is a stronger predictor of behavioral tendencies toward the outgroup than positive attitudes are. Results also demonstrated two mechanisms for increasing outgroup trust—through both direct and extended intergroup contact. These studies further our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the formation of intergroup trust and behavior in areas of conflict.

The impact of intergroup emotions on forgiveness in Northern Ireland

Although prejudice researchers have mainly focused their attention on changing attitudes toward outgroups, other outcome variables may also be important. In post-conflict reconciliation, intergroup forgiveness may play a crucial role in helping groups in conflict put the atrocities of the past behind them (Cairns, Tam, Hewstone, & Niens, 2005). Two studies showed that both the specific intergroup emotion of anger and infrahumanization (the attribution of more human emotions to the ingroup than to the outgroup) predicted decreased intergroup forgiveness in Northern Ireland. Results further revealed intergroup contact as a potential means of reducing anger toward the outgroup and improving attitudes toward them. This research integrated prior interpersonal theory with intergroup literature to examine the concept of intergroup forgiveness and its predictors. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for reconciliation in conflict societies.

Intergroup Contact and Grandparent-Grandchild Communication: The Effects of Self-Disclosure on Implicit and Explicit Biases Against Older People

This study investigated contact and ageism on both the implicit and the explicit level. We examined the role of grandparent–grandchild communication (in terms of self-disclosure) and its relations to anxiety and empathy in improving intergenerational attitudes. Analyses revealed that: (1) quantity and quality of contact with older people (other than grandparents) predict higher levels of self-disclosure (to ones grandparent); (2) quantity (but not quality) of contact with older people is associated with more favorable implicit associations with them, while quality of contact is associated with more favorable explicit attitudes; and (3) higher levels of self-disclosure to grandparents are associated with empathy and reduced anxiety, which in turn are associated with more positive explicit attitudes toward older adults. We explain our findings in light of the environmental associations model (Karpinsky & Hilton, 2001)—that quantity of contact, or mere exposure to older people, drives the Implicit Association Test effect. The model sheds light on the mediational roles of interpersonal variables (self-disclosure, anxiety, and empathy with a grandparent) in intergenerational contact.

Secondary transfer effects of intergroup contact : Alternative accounts and underlying processes

Although intergroup contact is one of the most prominent interventions to reduce prejudice, the generalization of contact effects is still a contentious issue. This research further examined the rarely studied secondary transfer effect (STE; Pettigrew, 2009), by which contact with a primary outgroup reduces prejudice toward secondary groups that are not directly involved in the contact. Across 3 cross-sectional studies conducted in Cyprus (N = 1,653), Northern Ireland (N = 1,973), and Texas (N = 275) and 1 longitudinal study conducted in Northern Ireland (N = 411), the present research sought to systematically rule out alternative accounts of the STE and to investigate 2 potential mediating mechanisms (ingroup reappraisal and attitude generalization). Results indicated that, consistent with the STE, contact with a primary outgroup predicts attitudes toward secondary outgroups, over and above contact with the secondary outgroup, socially desirable responding, and prior attitudes. Mediation analyses found strong evidence for attitude generalization but only limited evidence for ingroup reappraisal as an underlying process. Two out of 3 tests of a reverse model, where contact with the secondary outgroup predicts attitudes toward the primary outgroup, provide further evidence for an indirect effect through attitude generalization. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.

Individual‐level and group‐level mediators of contact effects in Northern Ireland: The moderating role of social identification

We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceived realistic and symbolic threats to the in-group) threats as simultaneous mediators in the relationship between the quantity and quality of cross-community contact and intergroup attitudes (Study 1, N=166) and trust (Study 2, N=163) in Northern Ireland. The studies tested the hypothesis that the strength of group-identification moderates the importance of individual- vs. group-level threats as predictors of attitudes and trust and as mediators of contact effects. Both anxiety and symbolic threat, but not realistic threat, emerged as predictors of the criterion variables and mediated contact effects. Our results provide support for the moderating role of identification and suggest that while symbolic threat predicts attitudes and trust for high, but not low identifiers, anxiety is a somewhat more important predictor for low than for high identifiers. We discuss these results against the background of current intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.

Attributional biases about the origins of attitudes: Externality, emotionality, and rationality

Pilot work and 3 studies investigated the ways people explain the origins of attitudes. Study I examined the use of 3 dimensions (externality, rationality, emotionality) to explain the origin of peoples own, in-group, and out-group attitudes. Attributions for own attitudes were the least externally and emotionally based and the most rationally based. By comparison with the out-group, less externality, less emotionality, and more rationality also were attributed to in-group attitudes. Studies 2 and 3 examined the effects of intergroup threat on attributions for in- and out-group attitude positions. Under high threat, more externality and emotionality but less rationality were attributed to out-group attitudes than under low threat. Intergroup differentiation mediated the difference between out-group attributions under high and low threat.

Negative incidental affect and mood congruency in crossed categorization

Examined the effects of incidental sadness and anger on affiliative responses to crossed categorization targets. Affect manipulations included an anger-provoking frustration (Study 1), a sad film clip (Study 2), and autobiographical essays about sad or anger-provoking topics (Studies 3 and 4). By comparison with a neutral mood, anger (Study 1) reduced affiliative tendencies toward persons possessing an out-group membership but not toward those possessing only in-group memberships. Study 2 showed a similar pattern for sadness. Studies 3 and 4 replicated these effects in designs including both types of negative mood. Meta-analytic integration showed the pattern of greater rejection of targets with an out-group membership to be stronger under anger than sadness. Study 4 also showed that despite yielding a consistent pattern for affiliation, sadness and anger differentially elicited aggressive tendencies toward the same targets.

Ingroup Identification and Group-Level Narcissism as Predictors of U.S. Citizens’ Attitudes and Behavior Toward Arab Immigrants:

In four studies, the authors explored factors contributing to negative attitudes and behavior toward Arab immigrants in the United States. In Study 1, Americans reported greater threat from Arabs, compared to other groups (e.g., Latino, Asian). In Study 2, they tested the effects of ingroup identification and group-level narcissism on attitudes toward Arab, Latino, Asian, and European immigrants. Identification interacted with group narcissism in predicting attitudes toward Arab (but not other) immigrants, such that identification predicted negative attitudes toward Arab immigrants only at mean and high levels of group narcissism. Study 3 explored the convergent and discriminant validity of the group narcissism construct. In Study 4, the authors added a behavioral dependent measure. Again, ingroup identification predicted negative behavior and attitudes toward an Arab immigrant group (but not comparison groups) only at mean and high levels of group narcissism. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Roles of Group Importance and Anxiety in Predicting Depersonalized Ingroup Trust

In this experiment, we examine depersonalized ingroup trust as a function of group importance and anxiety. We expected that depersonalized ingroup trust would be stronger in more important social groups. We further predicted that anxiety would moderate the relationship between group importance and depersonalized ingroup trust, so that in high-importance social groups, but not within low-importance social groups, anxiety would increase depersonalized ingroup trust. By contrast, for low importance groups, anxiety should not affect depersonalized trust, but should increase interpersonal trust instead. These predictions were supported, even after controlling for baseline levels of general trust in others as well as for the presence of non-anxiety emotion states. The article discusses the theoretical and empirical links between anxiety, uncertainty, and decisions to trust in collective contexts.

A trans-paradigm theoretical synthesis of cognitive dissonance theory: Illuminating the nature of discomfort

In a trans-paradigm theoretical synthesis of cognitive dissonance research, we examined theoretical variables (e.g., choice, consequences, etc.) and their relationships with dissonance effect sizes. We used structural equation analyses, performed within and across five research paradigms (induced compliance, insufficient justification, disconfirmed expectancies, selective exposure, and free choice), and corresponding to major versions of cognitive dissonance theory, to test several theoretically derived models. None of these models supported Festingers notion that discomfort mediates dissonance effects. Consistent with conceptualisation of guilt as the drive component of dissonance theory, guilt strongly predicted dissonance effect sizes, virtually irrespective of which model was tested. A theory integrating the guilt and dissonance theories is stronger than either set of theories in isolation.