Jorge Manzi

In-Group Identification as a Function of Depersonalization, Distinctiveness, and Status

Artificial social categories were created in a laboratory context in order to test predictions regarding the relative importance of group size and status as determinants of in-group favoritism. Subjects were assigned to categories of “overestimator” or “under estimator” and were told that one category included a majority of college students while the other represented a minority. Prior to category assignment, half of the subjects had been given confidentiality instructions designed to make them feel highly depersonalized. Based on feedback about test performance, status differentials between the two estimation categories were introduced. Consistent with predictions, there was a three-way interaction between depersonalization, in-group size, and in-group status as determinants of evaluative in-group bias on social trait ratings. Under control conditions (no depersonalization), group status and majority size both contributed to positive valuations of the in-group. Under the depersonalization condition, however, subjects valued minority group membership more than majority categorization, and the effect of status was eliminated.

On Positive Psychological Outcomes: What Helps Groups With a History of Conflict to Forgive and Reconcile With Each Other?

Three studies examined the roles of traditional and novel social psychological variables involved in intergroup forgiveness. Study 1 (N = 480) revealed that among the pro-Pinochet and the anti-Pinochet groups in Chile, forgiveness was predicted by ingroup identity (negatively), common ingroup identity (positively), empathy and trust (positively), and competitive victimhood (the subjective sense of having suffered more than the outgroup, negatively). Political ideology (Right vs. Left) moderated the relationship between empathy and forgiveness, trust and forgiveness, and between the latter and competitive victimhood. Study 2 (N = 309), set in the Northern Irish conflict between Protestants and Catholics, provided a replication and extension of Study 1. Finally, Study 3 (N = 155/108) examined the longitudinal relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, revealing that forgiveness predicted reconciliation intentions. The reverse direction of this relationship was also marginally significant. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.

Forgiveness and Reparation in Chile: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Intergroup Antecedents

In this study our focus was on forgiveness and reparation as 2 major manifestations of the Chilean political reconciliation processes initiated after the recovery of democracy in 1990. Beyond the conceptual differences between forgiveness and reparation, this study analyzes the differential relations they have with important cognitive (victimization, demand for outgroup remorse, and demand for truth) and emotional (anger, collective guilt, and shame) variables involved in the reconciliation process. Respondents were university students who identified with the 2 major political groups originally involved in the conflict (N right wing = 225; N left wing = 264). Overall, results confirmed that forgiveness and reparation were positively correlated only in the case of the group associated with perpetrating political repression. Forgiveness was predicted mainly by the emotional factors (collective anger and guilt) whereas reparation was predicted by a combination of cognitive and emotional factors.

Personal Values and Political Activism: A Cross-National Study

Using data from 28 countries in four continents, the present research addresses the question of how basic values may account for political activism. Study 1 (N = 35,116) analyses data from representative samples in 20 countries that responded to the 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) in the European Social Survey. Study 2 (N = 7,773) analyses data from adult samples in six of the same countries (Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Poland, and United Kingdom) and eight other countries (Australia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United States) that completed the full 40-item PVQ. Across both studies, political activism relates positively to self-transcendence and openness to change values, especially to universalism and autonomy of thought, a subtype of self-direction. Political activism relates negatively to conservation values, especially to conformity and personal security. National differences in the strength of the associations between individual values and political activism are linked to level of democratization.

School system evaluation by value added analysis under endogeneity

Value added is a common tool in educational research on effectiveness. It is often modeled as a (prediction of a) random effect in a specific hierarchical linear model. This paper shows that this modeling strategy is not valid when endogeneity is present. Endogeneity stems, for instance, from a correlation between the random effect in the hierarchical model and some of its covariates. This paper shows that this phenomenon is far from exceptional and can even be a generic problem when the covariates contain the prior score attainments, a typical situation in value added modeling. Starting from a general, model-free definition of value added, the paper derives an explicit expression of the value added in an endogeneous hierarchical linear Gaussian model. Inference on value added is proposed using an instrumental variable approach. The impact of endogeneity on the value added and the estimated value added is calculated accurately. This is also illustrated on a large data set of individual scores of about 200,000 students in Chile.

Theory underlying a national teacher evaluation program

The paper describes a study conducted to explicate the multiple theories underlying Chiles national teacher evaluation program. These theories will serve as the basis for evaluating the intended consequences of this evaluation system, while not losing sight of emerging unintended consequences. We first analyzed legal and policy documents and then interviewed fourteen representatives of the four stakeholder groups involved in the programs design and implementation, in order to gain insight into their respective conceptions of the programs functioning and intended effects. The results show that, as to be expected and despite the long and difficult negotiation process that preceded implementation of this program, multiple political stakeholders still view the programs intended effects differently. However, there was substantial overlap regarding a number of intended effects, such as building the capacity of, and triggering change in, teachers with shortcomings, and informing the selection of new teachers and facilitating the exit of unsatisfactory teachers from the system. It was difficult to get interviewees to talk about how exactly these intended effects are supposed to be achieved. The paper draws conclusions regarding theory elaboration process involving multiple stakeholders in a highly political context.

Identidad y actitudes políticas en jóvenes universitarios: el desencanto de los que no se identifican políticamente

Este trabajo reporta una investigacion que busca analizar las actitudes y orientaciones que caracterizan a un grupo de creciente importancia en el sistema politico chileno: quienes no se identifican con partidos o coaliciones. El estudio se organizo a partir de un conjunto de hipotesis derivadas de la Teoria de la Identidad Social, asi como de estudios previos relacionados con actitudes politicas generalizadas. La investigacion se llevo a cabo en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios de Santiago (N=1460), quienes respondieron un cuestionario autoadministrado. Los resultados confirmaron que quienes no se identifican politicamente tampoco lo hacen con otros referentes colectivos como la nacion y la religion. Sus actitudes politicas son tambien distintivas: en comparacion con quienes se identifican con partidos o coaliciones, su cinismo politico es mayor y su eficacia politica menor. Su tolerancia politica y autoritarismo difiere de quienes se identifican con partidos o coaliciones de derecha y su adhesion a la democracia se encuentra en un nivel intermedio con respecto a quienes se identifican con la centro-derecha y centro-izquierda. En su conjunto, los resultados muestran que este grupo manifiesta una clara retraccion con respecto a referentes de identidad e integracion social. El trabajo concluye recomendando la realizacion de estudios longitudinales que permitan establecer y caracterizar las transiciones identitarias que llevan a esta forma de desafeccion politica.

El pasado que nos pesa: La memoria colectiva del 11 de septiembre de 1973

This paper presents the results of a public opinion poll about the 11th of September of 1973 and the military regimen, applied to 792 persons from the Metropolitan Region of Santiago. The sample included participants of different ideological orientation and three political generations: persons who turned 18 years old before 1973, those who did it between 1974 and 1989, and finally, those who turned 18 from 1990 onwards. The results confirmed that the 11th of September of 1973 remains subjectively relevant for most people of the three generations. The analyses revealed mild generational differences. The ideological position continues to be a key factor in differentiating perceptions and memories about this historical event, although unexpected similarities among people from different political perspectives were found in some of the issues.

Confianza en instituciones políticas en Chile: un modelo de los componentes centrales de juicios de confianza

Resumen es: La confianza que los ciudadanos depositan en las instituciones politicas es importante para las democracias. Sin embargo, existen dudas acerca de la natu...

Relación entre orientación política y condición socioeconómica en la cultura política chilena: una aproximación desde la psicología política

A partir de un estudio longitudinal sobre cultura politica en chilenos, discutimos la paradojal evidencia encontrada en la literatura que plantea que, por un lado, las actitudes politicas mas pro-democraticas y anti-autoritarias se observarian en sectores sociales acomodados y, por otro lado, las actitudes mas pro-conservadoras y anti-igualitaristas se observarian en grupos sociales dominantes. Nuestros datos muestran que el patron de actitudes politicas (autoritarismo, apoyo a la democracia, conservadurismo y nacionalismo) es similar entre personas de derecha de estrato alto, izquierda de estrato bajo, y centro de estrato medio. En cambio, quienes manifiestan una orientacion politica incongruente con su condicion socioeconomica presentan actitudes politicas diferenciadas del patron predominante. Concluimos que la paradoja puede resolverse explicando el patron de actitudes politicas de un grupo en funcion del (des)ajuste de la orientacion politica a sus condiciones socioeconomicas.