Search

Previous research has demonstrated that low social dominance orientation (social equality orientation) promotes empathy with disadvantaged group members. In three studies, we tested a model relating preference for egalitarianism to positive attitudes towards immigrants through emotional experiences (pride, guilt, moral anger/ anger, disgust). Studies 1 and 2 showed that social equality orientation was positively related to proimmigrant attitudes through increased pride in helping immigrants, controlling for participants' gender, age, and political orientation. Such a preference for egalitarianism was unrelated to proimmigrant attitudes through guilt for not helping immigrants and moral anger concerning mistreatment of immigrants. By focusing on emotional experience concerning proimmigrant national initiatives (e.g., integrating immigrants into the labor market), Study 3 corroborated the indirect effect of social equality orientation on proimmigrant attitudes through increased pride, controlling for participants' gender, age, political orientation, as well as competitive jungle and dangerous world beliefs. Although much weaker, we also found a positive association between social equality orientation and proimmigrant attitudes through reduced anger, while no significant association through guilt and disgust was found. Results suggest that, relative to guilt, anger, and disgust, pride is the key channel through which preference for egalitarianism is related to positive attitudes towards immigrants. Implications and future directions for research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has examined the link between (anti-)egalitarian ideology and motivated social cognition. However, this research is typically framed around anti-egalitarianism, with the other end of this ideological pole, egalitarianism, often ignored altogether or treated as merely the absence of anti-egalitarian-motivated cognition. We integrate long-standing ideas from social dominance theory with contemporary models of motivated social cognition and a recent wave of empirical findings to argue that egalitarian ideology also drives social cognition in meaningful ways. We discuss why pursuing this avenue of research is important and outline several unanswered questions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For surveys of complex issues that entail multiple steps, multiple reference points, and nongradient attributes (e.g., social inequality), this study proposes a new multiprocess model that integrates ideal-point and dominance approaches into a treelike structure (IDtree). In the IDtree, an ideal-point approach describes an individual's attitude and then a dominance approach describes their tendency for using extreme response categories. Evaluation of IDtree performance via two empirical data sets showed that the IDtree fit these data better than other models. Furthermore, simulation studies showed a satisfactory parameter recovery of the IDtree. Thus, the IDtree model sheds light on the response processes of a multistage structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographically diverse leader-member relationships are predominantly studied based on similarity-attraction theory. However, empirical research examining the effect of similarity and dissimilarity on leader-member exchange (LMX) quality has resulted in inconsistent findings. I propose a new theoretical model which suggests that the LMX quality of demographically diverse leader-member dyads is affected by informal and formal status and power inequalities. My propositions, which lead to different outcomes than those of similarity-attraction theory, draw primarily upon social dominance theory and show how inequalities in demographic status and power and in positional status and power intertwine to affect LMX quality. Theoretical contributions and future research opportunities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals' perceptions of biracials can vary based on the motives of the perceiver. Here, we examine how two factors—perceivers' group-level identification motives and their system-level beliefs about the desirability of hierarchy (i.e., social dominance orientation)—predict the degree to which they attribute a biracial target's successes or failures to that target's White versus minority background. Across three studies examining different contexts, more anti-egalitarian White participants and more highly identified White participants rated a half-White, half-minority target as being shaped more by his minority (vs. White) background when he was disreputable (vs. reputable)—patterns broadly consistent with prior theorizing on the motivations to maintain social stratification and protect ingroup standing, respectively. In direct contrast, however, egalitarian White participants and White participants low on ethnic identification credited a target's outgroup minority background when he was reputable (vs. disreputable), consistent with a desire to promote social equality and forgoing the opportunity to "bask in reflected glory" on behalf of the ingroup. Our results extend extant theorizing by underlining the benefits of jointly considering both group- and system-level motives when analyzing perceptions and attributions of individuals and groups, and by shedding new light on the understudied psychology of social egalitarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a representative sample of Dutch natives, the current study examined the distinction between two dimensions of social dominance orientation [SDO-Dominance (SDO-D) and SDO-Egalitarianism (SDO-E)] and their relation with prejudice towards immigrant groups. Results showed that an empirical distinction between the two dimensions could be made. Furthermore, the relation between SDO and prejudice was fully mediated by hierarchy-enhancing (ethnic citizenship, assimilation) and hierarchy-attenuating myths (civic citizenship, multiculturalism), but in different ways for both SDO dimensions. Moreover, there were distinct paths between the SDO dimensions and ethnic prejudice for higher and lower identifiers. For higher identifiers, the relation between SDO-D and prejudice was fully mediated by the endorsement of hierarchy-enhancing myths. For lower identifiers, there was an association between SDO-E and prejudice that was predominantly mediated by the endorsement of hierarchy-attenuating myths. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]