Mikołaj Winiewski

The Role of Short- and Long-Term Cognitive Empathy Activation in Preventing Cyberbystander Reinforcing Cyberbullying Behavior

The long- versus short-term effectiveness of empathy activation on reducing bystander behavior reinforcing cyberbullying was tested. The focus was on limiting the frequency of forwarding a message ridiculing a peer. Experimental research on adolescent students was conducted in conditions simulating online contact. The results confirmed the significance of cognitive empathy activated immediately prior to decision making on limiting involvement in reinforcing cyberbullying behavior. The long-term impact of empathy was markedly limited.

Complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities predicts system justification in Poland

We investigate the phenomenon of complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities in Poland and its relationship to system justification. Using results from a nationally representative survey we test the hypothesis that complementary stereotypes—according to which ethnic minorities are seen as possessing distinctive, offsetting strengths and weaknesses—would be associated with system justification among Polish majority citizens. For four minorities, results indicated that stereotyping them as (a) low in morality but high in competence or (b) high in morality but low in competence predicted greater system justification. These results suggest that even in a context that is low in support for the status quo, complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities is linked to system justification processes. For the three minority groups that were lowest in social status, complementary stereotyping was unrelated to system justification. It appears that negative attitude towards these groups can be expressed openly, regardless of one’s degree of system justification.

Invisible to the state. Institutional sexual stigma and collective action of LGB individuals in five East European countries

As demonstrated in past research, institutional sexual stigma negativly affects the well-being of nonheteronormative individuals. In this contribution we investigate the effects that heterosexist legal regulations exert on collective action of LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) people. Building on different theoretical traditions, we propose a model linking institutional sexual stigma (a macrolevel phenomenon) to individual behaviour (a microlevel phenomenon). To verify our assumptions we use data from a cross-cultural study (N = 1,365) conducted in five East European countries (i.e., Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland) differing in the extent to which they grant full civil rights to sexual minorities. In line with our hypotheses we find that, by promoting internalized homophobia and subsequently undermining in-group identification, institutional sexual stigma suppresses collective action of LGB individuals. As weak LGB activism impedes social change towards more progressive legislation, a vicious circle is set in motion.

Cyberbullying Among Adolescent Bystanders: Role of Affective versus Cognitive Empathy in Increasing Prosocial Cyberbystander Behavior

The purpose of this study was to investigate if affective (vicarious sharing of emotions) and cognitive empathy (mental perspective taking) induction may stimulate adolescent online bystanders’ intervention in cyberbullying cases. The role of reporting the abuse is crucial because it is a form of active support to the victim, initiated by children, to stop the bullying. The effectiveness of empathy activation in decreasing negative cyberbystander reinforcing behavior has been proved in previous studies. The effects of affective and cognitive empathy activation on positive cyberbystander behavior, defined as reporting the bullying online, were explored in two follow-up studies N = 271 and N = 265. The influence of experiencing cyberbullying as perpetrator, victim, and as determined by gender on prosocial cyberbystander behavior was also controlled. The results indicate that only cognitive empathy activation increases the likelihood of intervening bystander behavior. Neither affective empathy induction, previous experience of cyberperpetration, cybervictimization, nor gender affected the engagement in prosocial bystander behavior. The conclusion of the research is that a program consequently activating more reflective cognitive empathy induction can contribute toward the establishment of healthier behavioral patterns among bystanders to cyberbullying, increasing the probability of their reporting the cyberbullying acts.

Exposure to hate speech increases prejudice through desensitization

In three studies (two representative nationwide surveys, N = 1,007, N = 682; and one experimental, N = 76) we explored the effects of exposure to hate speech on outgroup prejudice. Following the General Aggression Model, we suggest that frequent and repetitive exposure to hate speech leads to desensitization to this form of verbal violence and subsequently to lower evaluations of the victims and greater distancing, thus increasing outgroup prejudice. In the first survey study, we found that lower sensitivity to hate speech was a positive mediator of the relationship between frequent exposure to hate speech and outgroup prejudice. In the second study, we obtained a crucial confirmation of these effects. After desensitization training individuals were less sensitive to hate speech and more prejudiced toward hate speech victims than their counterparts in the control condition. In the final study, we replicated several previous effects and additionally found that the effects of exposure to hate speech on prejudice were mediated by a lower sensitivity to hate speech, and not by lower sensitivity to social norms. Altogether, our studies are the first to elucidate the effects of exposure to hate speech on outgroup prejudice.

On Old-Fashioned Versus Modern Homonegativity Distinction: Evidence From Poland

ABSTRACT Psychological research on prejudice against homosexuals distinguishes between old-fashioned (traditional) and modern (contemporary) homonegativity, which differ with regard to their content, correlates, and consequences. The current research offers evidence for the validity of old-fashioned versus modern homonegativity distinction in the post-communist, East European context. In Studies 1 and 2 (Ns = 295 and 327, respectively) the Polish adaptations of the non-gendered and gendered Homonegativity Scale (Morrison, Parriag, & Morrison, 1999) and the Modern Homonegativity Scale (Morrison & Morrison, 2003) were developed. Furthermore, divergent (discriminant) validity of traditional and contemporary anti-homosexual prejudice was demonstrated. Old-fashioned and modern homonegativity exhibited differential relationships with social distance and support for same-sex couples’ relational rights.

Strength of Excitation Is Negatively Associated with Aggressive Behavior after Interpersonal Rejection

This study explored how the Pavlovian temperamental traits strength of excitation (SE) and strength of inhibition (SI) were related to rejection and aggression. We predicted that rejection would increase aggression, but that higher SE and SI would mitigate this effect. Participants (n = 117) completed Strelau and Zawadzki’s (1998) Pavlovian Temperament Survey. A week later they were told that a peer wanted (acceptance) or did not want (rejection) to work with them and they were given a chance to react aggressively by damaging that person’s chance of getting a job. We found that only high SE was negatively related to rejected individuals’ aggression. The results are related to the diathesis-stress and catalyst models’ accounts of the role of temperament in shaping experience of social stress.