Jennifer J. Ratcliff

Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians: The Role of Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice

Research has uncovered consistent gender differences in attitudes toward gay men, with women expressing less prejudice than men (Herek, 2003). Attitudes toward lesbians generally show a similar pattern, but to a weaker extent. The present work demonstrated that motivation to respond without prejudice importantly contributes to these divergent attitudes. Study 1 revealed that women evince higher internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS, Plant & Devine, 1998) than do men and that this difference partially mediates the relationship between gender and attitudes toward gay men. The second study replicated this finding and demonstrated that IMS mediates the relationship between gender and attitudes toward lesbians. Study 2 further revealed that gender-role variables contribute to the observed gender differences in motivation to respond without prejudice. These findings provide new insights into the nature of sexual prejudice and for the first time point to possible antecedents of variation in motivation to respond without prejudice.

Concern over the misidentification of sexual orientation: Social contagion and the avoidance of sexual minorities

Membership in a valued group can provide an individual with a variety of benefits. As a result, people should be motivated to avoid being misidentified as a member of an outgroup, particularly a stigmatized outgroup. We argue that when group membership is not readily identifiable, concern over potentially being mistaken for a member of the outgroup (i.e., social contagion concerns) can be potent and can lead to avoidance of the outgroup. The current work shows that after controlling for negative attitudes toward homosexuality, social contagion concerns independently predict anxiety and avoidance in response to imagined, anticipated, and actual contact with a lesbian or gay individual. Results from these studies suggest that concern over misclassification of sexual orientation is an important and unique predictor of responses to contact with lesbian and gay people. Implications for intergroup contact and responses to other stigmatized groups are discussed.

The interplay between counterfactual reasoning and feedback dynamics in producing inferences about the self

Counterfactual reasoning research typically demonstrates contrast effects—nearly winning evokes frustration, whereas nearly losing evokes exhilaration. The present work, however, describes conditions under which assimilative responses (i.e., when judgements are pulled towards a comparison standard) also occur. Participants solved analogies and learned that they had either nearly attained a target score or nearly failed to attain it. Participants in the no trajectory condition received this feedback in the absence of any prior feedback, whereas those in the trajectory condition received feedback after having received prior feedback conforming to either an ascending or descending pattern. Participants then provided perceptions of their verbal intelligence. Assimilation effects were observed in the trajectory conditions but attenuated in the no trajectory conditions. Discussion focuses on the role of feedback dynamics in determining responses to close-call counterfactuals.

Camera Perspective Bias in Videotaped Confessions: Experimental Evidence of Its Perceptual Basis.

The camera perspective from which a criminal confession is videotaped influences later assessments of its voluntariness and the suspects guilt. Previous research has suggested that this camera perspective bias is rooted in perceptual rather than conceptual processes, but these data are strictly correlational. In 3 experiments, the authors directly manipulated perceptual processing to provide stronger evidence of its mediational role. Prior to viewing a videotape of a simulated confession, participants were shown a photograph of the confessors apparent victim. Participants in a perceptual interference condition were instructed to visualize the image of the victim in their minds while viewing the videotape; participants in a conceptual interference condition were instructed instead to rehearse an 8-digit number. Because mental imagery and actual perception draw on the same available resources, the authors anticipated that the former, but not the latter, interference task would disrupt the camera perspective bias, if indeed it were perceptually mediated. Results supported this conclusion.

Evidence of the camera perspective bias in authentic videotaped interrogations : Implications for emerging reform in the criminal justice system

Objective. Numerous previous experiments have established the existence of a camera perspective bias in evaluations of videotaped interrogations/confessions: videotapes that make the suspect more visually conspicuous than the interrogator(s) by virtue of focusing the camera on the suspect yield assessments of voluntariness and judgments of guilt that are greater than those found when alternative presentation formats are used. One limitation of this body of research is that all the interrogations/confessions used to date were simulations; therefore, no evidence currently demonstrates that the camera perspective bias importantly generalizes to authentic videotapes recorded by police and depicting actual suspects and interrogators. Two experiments addressed this issue. Methods. Experiment 1 compared judgments of voluntariness based on viewing two authentic videotaped confessions – one recorded with the camera focused on the suspect, the other with the camera focused equally on the suspect and interrogator – with those based on listening only to the audio or reading only a transcript. Experiment 2 compared judgments of voluntariness and guilt of an originally equal-focus videotaped confession that was edited to produce suspect-focus and interrogator-focus versions. Results. In Experiment 1, participants judged the videotape version of the confession to be more voluntary than either the audio only or transcript versions, but only for the suspect-focus videotape. In Experiment 2, participants viewing the suspect-focus version of the confession (relative to the interrogator-focus version) judged it to be more voluntary and the suspect more likely to be guilty. Conclusion. The present research further strengthens the policy implications of the literature on camera perspective bias by providing evidence that the bias manifests with authentic interrogations/confessions as well as with simulations.

Exposing Coercive Influences in the Criminal Justice System

Around the beginning of the 1970s, social and behavioral scientists began conducting systematic research on issues related to the accuracy of eyewitnesses in recounting details observed during the commission of a crime. Twenty-five years later, more than 2,000 scientific articles in psychology demonstrated that eyewitness accounts were susceptible to a variety of influences that could potentially render them unreliable (Cutler & Penrod, 1995). For example, Loftus (1979) showed that eyewitness memory was malleable and could be readily altered by information encountered after the initial event. Work by Lindsay and Wells (1985) established that the manner in which police lineups were conducted greatly impacted the number of mistaken identifications made by eyewitnesses. The weight of three decades of such research, in combination with other factors, has recently prompted the legal system to take action in an attempt to prevent erroneous eyewitness testimony from influencing trial outcomes (Wells et al., 2000). Specifically, the United States Department of Justice, with the input of psychological researchers, has translated the scientific literature on eyewitness reports into a first ever set of national guidelines for the collection and preservation of eyewitness evidence (Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999).

The Influence of the Expression of Subtle and Blatant Sexual Prejudice on Personal Prejudice and Identification With the Expresser.

ABSTRACT Although the negative consequences of subtle and blatant prejudice for the targets of prejudice are clear in the psychological literature, the impact of exposure to subtle and blatant prejudice on non-targets remains unclear. The current work examines how exposure to blatant and subtle sexual prejudice affects non-targets’ personal endorsement of prejudice and their identification with the prejudice expresser. Results suggest that relative to exposure to blatant or neutral expressions of prejudice, exposure to subtle prejudice increased prejudice levels. Individuals were also more likely to distance from the prejudice expresser when exposed to blatant compared to subtle prejudice. The implications are discussed.

Why pride displays elicit support from majority group members: The mediational role of perceived deservingness

Research has shown that minority groups benefit from eliciting support from majority group members. Pride displays are one method utilized by minority groups to gain this support. Research also has suggested that perceived pride has two dimensions—(a) authentic, or accomplishment-based pride and (b) hubristic, or arrogance-based pride—that differentially predict behavior toward minority groups. The current research examined the role of perceived deservingness in explaining relations between perceived pride and support for minority groups. Results of three studies demonstrated that perceived deservingness mediates the pathway from perceived authentic pride to support for minority groups. Implications are discussed.