Jessica F. Harding

Personality and prejudice: Extension to the HEXACO personality model

We modelled the associations between the HEXACO dimensions of personality, Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right–Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and prejudice towards dangerous, derogated and dissident groups (N = 454 undergraduates). Consistent with a Big–Five model, low Openness to Experience predicted RWA and therefore dangerous and dissident group prejudice. As predicted, low Emotionality (and Openness) rather than Agreeableness predicted SDO and therefore derogated and dissident group prejudice. Comparison with meta–analytic averages of Big–Five data supported expected similarities and differences in the association of Big–Five and HEXACO models of personality with ideology. Finally, Honesty–Humility simultaneously predicted increases in RWA but decreases in SDO, and thus opposing effects on prejudice. These opposing effects have gone unidentified in research employing Big–Five models of personality structure. Copyright

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.

Trajectories of Discrimination across Adolescence: Associations with Academic, Psychological, and Behavioral Outcomes.

The authors explored trajectories of perceived discrimination over a 6-year period (five assessments in 6th-11th grade) in relation to academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades. They distinguished discrimination from adults versus peers in addition to overt versus covert discrimination from peers. The sample included 226 African American, White, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Chinese adolescents (ages 11-12 at Time 1) recruited in sixth grade from six public schools in New York City. All forms of discrimination increased during middle school and decreased during high school. The frequency with which adolescents reported different sources and types of discrimination varied across ethnicity/race, but not gender. Initial levels and rates of change in discrimination predicted academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades, albeit in complex ways.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mothers' Socialization Goals for Their Adolescents

Objectives: We explored the socialization goals that African American, Latino, Chinese and White mothers held for their adolescents within 4 domains that are centrally relevant during adolescence—proper demeanor, academics, race/ethnicity, and peers. Method: A card sort task and subsequent logistic regression analyses were used to explore mothers’ choice of the most important socialization goals for their ethnically/racially diverse 6th-grade adolescents (N = 185). Results: Compared to White mothers, African American, Latino, and Chinese mothers were significantly more likely to select proper demeanor goals that emphasize deference over benevolence, and peer goals that emphasize instrumental over relational friendships. African American and Latino mothers were more likely to select race/ethnicity goals that emphasize cultural over egalitarian goals compared to Chinese and White mothers. All mothers were more likely to select academic engagement as more important than performance. In contrast to mothers’ emphases within domains, mothers’ ranked the importance of these different domains remarkably similarly. Conclusions: Mothers’ socialization goals illustrate both similarities and differences across race/ethnicity. Findings are discussed with reference to how mothers’ goals reflect broad cultural orientations as well as the contextual demands of their adolescents’ experiences.