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Bias is an inclination or preconceived outlook that favors toward or against an idea, person, or group. It manifests in implicit and explicit ways throughout all aspects and institutions of society. These cognitive shortcuts are often based on stereotypes and can lead to prejudice and discrimination in medicine as they mediate interactions with patients, between providers, and at the institutional level. It is important to understand the drivers and consequences of bias in order to overcome barriers to representation, equity, and inclusion. This paper provides definitions of bias; discusses its manifestations across academic medicine at the institutional and individual levels; and concludes by examining techniques to reduce bias and measure progress. Equity for patients, families, and members of the broader surgical community cannot be achieved without reducing bias and discrimination. We call for action to increase intentional efforts that reduce the influences of bias in healthcare, research, and education, particularly in the field of pediatric surgery.

Our perception of someone's accent influences our expectations about what they might say or do. In this experiment, EEG data were recorded while participants listened to cliche sentences matching or not the stereotypes associated with the speaker's accent (upper-class Parisian accent or banlieue accent, a negatively connoted accent associated with youth from suburban areas; e.g. “I always listen to rap in my car” said with a banlieue accent (congruent) or an upper-class accent (incongruent)). Mismatches between social accent and stereotypical content triggered an event-related potential (ERP) known as the N400, albeit more anterior than the one observed for semantic violations, as well as a P3. These results are in line with other studies – conducted in particular with gender stereotypes – suggesting that stereotypes are stored in semantic categorical knowledge and that mismatches trigger integration difficulties and checking and updating mechanisms, and extend them to socially marked accents.

There is a growing number of various ethnic groups in Finland. The attitudes and categorizations that host country nationals have and make regarding migrants is frequently researched. The attitudes that migrants have towards other migrants has, however, been much less researched. This paper provides an in-depth analysis that considers what factors are behind the attitudes that migrants form of other migrants and how these impact categorizations and hierarchies. The empirical research material of this study is based on 77 qualitative interviews with migrants living in Finland, carried out in 2018–2019. In the analysis, various theories of minority relations are applied. The research finds that migrants evaluate other migrants according to their perceived advantageousness and, based on these evaluations, they form hierarchies, which are to some extent ethnic. Perceived advantageousness is based on being integrated (especially in economic terms), hard-working, non-threatening, pliable, similar to Finns (or an ideal of perceived Finnishness), “white”, and not being dependent on welfare benefits. As a fear of being lumped together and then discriminated against, migrants emphasise their distinctiveness from other migrant groups in a subjugating manner. Certain characteristics tend to be ascribed to certain backgrounds and ethnicities and, thus, migrant groups become categorized according to their positions in a hierarchy. Not being advantageous is attributed to personal shortcomings and even ‘racial’ attributes. A shared commonness of the majority population is presumed and functions as the underlying assumption which guides the idea of how and what people should be like in order to fit in. peerReviewed

Socio-cultural sensitivities such as xenophobia, racism, and other forms of prejudice impact demand for tourism products and experiences. Existing studies on these phenomena have tended to be framed through singular or binary lenses, and a holistic exploration and conceptualisation to inform tourist behaviour research is absent. This paper fills this critical gap by conceptualising tourist socio-cultural aversions that underpin tourists’ avoidance of destinations, products and experiences. Two theoretical contributions are made: (1) a tourist socio-cultural aversion typology is proposed; and (2) the complexities of implicit and explicit, as well as aggressive and passive aversions, are explored. The paper highlights key managerial implications of aversions and in doing so, provides businesses, the tourism sector, and government agencies with an understanding of tourists implicit or explicit aversions to particular destinations or products. The socio-cultural and economic ramifications for individuals, businesses and communities is considerable if left unaddressed.

This study examined the effects of ethnicity on victim-blaming in a case of stabbing by addressing victim and offender ethnicity as well as observer ethnicity and religion. Jewish (n = 285), Muslim Arab (n = 249), and Christian Arab (n = 51) students from Israeli universities and colleges read a single stabbing scenario, in which we manipulated victim (Arab/Jewish) and offender ethnicity (African/Arab/Jewish). The results showed that participants blamed a Jewish victim more than an Arab victim. Also, our findings indicated that Christian Arabs expressed significantly higher victim-blaming than Jews. However, victim-blaming among Christian Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs, and victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Jews. Furthermore, the interactions between observer and victim ethnicity and between observer and offender ethnicity were significant. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of prejudice against members of African and Arab communities, the black sheep effect, and defensive attribution. In addition, the discussion suggests that observer ethnic and religious background may be related to blame-attribution mode: fixed (not affected by victim and offender ethnicity) or modular (affected by victim and offender ethnicity). From the practical standpoint, our findings suggest a need for further education on prejudice against minorities and promoting ethnic diversity among practitioners assisting and treating victims.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the ongoing pandemic of racial injustice. In the context of these twin pandemics, emergency medicine organizations are declaring that “Racism is a Public Health Crisis.” Accordingly, we are challenging emergency clinicians to respond to this emergency and commit to being antiracist. This courageous journey begins with naming racism and continues with actions addressing the intersection of racism and social determinants of health that result in health inequities. Therefore, we present a social-ecological framework that structures the intentional actions that emergency medicine must implement at the individual, organizational, community, and policy levels to actively respond to this emergency and be antiracist.

Background Implicit bias instruction is becoming more prevalent across the continuum of medical education. Little guidance exists for faculty on recognizing and debriefing about implicit bias during routine clinical encounters. Objective To assess the impact and feasibility of single seminars on implicit bias and the approach to its management in clinical settings. Methods Between September 2016 and November 2017, the authors delivered five departmental/divisional grand rounds across three different academic medical centers in New York, USA. Instruction provided background information on implicit bias, highlighted its relevance to clinical care, and discussed proposed interventions. To evaluate the impact of instruction participants completed a twelve-item retrospective pre-intervention/post-intervention survey. Questions related to comfort and confidence in recognizing and managing implicit bias, debriefing with learners, and role-modeling behaviors. Participants identified strategies for recognizing and managing potentially biased events through free text prompts. Authors qualitatively analyzed participants’ identified strategies. Results We received 116 completed surveys from 203 participants (57% response rate). Participants self-reported confidence and comfort increased for all questions. Qualitative analysis resulted in three themes: looking inward, looking outward, and taking action at individual and institutional levels. Conclusion After a single session, respondents reported increased confidence and comfort with the topic. They identified strategies relevant to their professional contexts which can inform future skills-based interventions. For healthcare organizations responding to calls for implicit bias training, this approach has great promise. It is feasible and can reach a wide audience through usual grand rounds programming, serving as an effective early step in such training.

This paper examines employment-related gender discrimination during the initial stages of a hiring process. It specifically focuses on recent college graduates in China. By examining firms’ responses to fictitious resumes with randomly generated information on gender and other key attributes of applicants (e.g., school reputation, student's academic achievement, and leadership experiences), this study is able to separate the effect of gender on a student's potential for getting an on-site interview from the confounding effects of other factors. The findings reveal that, with all other factors remaining constant, female applicants, on average, are less likely to be invited by hiring firms to on-site interviews as compared with their male counterparts. Furthermore, gender discrimination in computer and mathematics, architecture and engineering, and sales occupations appears to be driving the results of this study. The qualitative evidence based on interviews with firm recruiters suggests that the findings of this study are generally consistent with the role congruity theory of prejudice in psychology literature. While the finding that the quality of a job candidate (academic achievement and leadership experience) does not reduce gender discrimination offers some evidence to support a taste-based discrimination view, we do not have enough evidence to support a statistical discrimination view.

Background and purpose This paper describes the context and experiences of a workshop to raise knowledge and awareness of a college of pharmacy's faculty and staff about microaggressive behaviors and implicit biases. The workshop was intended to provide a non-threatening, interactive, and informative professional development program to demonstrate the cumulative marginalizing effects on students, faculty, and staff who may perceive themselves as targets. Educational activity and setting A half-day workshop was conducted during July 2018. Participants were initially provided with definitions and categories of microaggression and implicit bias. To bring the subject matter “alive” and foster receptivity, interactive videos were shown with scenarios depicting situations reflective of microaggressions and implicit biases. College faculty, staff, and students made these relatable. To foster objectivity, an outside consultant was hired to facilitate the ensuing roundtable and plenary discussions. Findings Sixty-eight participants responded to a pre-survey designed by the workshop team, and 78% indicated never having attended a training/seminar on microaggression and/or implicit bias. Sixty-two individuals responded to the post-survey with 92% indicating increased knowledge gained from workshop. Anecdotal reports suggested that the workshop had an ongoing impact, as faculty and staff continued the discussions in subsequent months and requested additional training sessions. Summary The workshop heightened awareness and increased faculty and staff knowledge on microaggressive behaviors, implicit biases, and the potential consequences thereof. It also demonstrated the importance of addressing conversations that are perceived as difficult, in order to create a diverse and inclusive workplace and learning environment for all.

Contrary to some conceptualizations, nonbelievers are more than simply those scoring low on religiosity scales. They seem to be characterized by analytic, flexible, and open-minded social-cognitive attributes, although this may interact with sociocultural levels of religiosity. This paper demonstrates that nonbelief, at least in the West, tends to coincide with specific worldviews, namely valuing rationality and science, as well as humanistic and liberal values. Furthermore, nonbelievers seem to parallel believers in various indicators of health. Finally, as all ideologists, nonbelievers may hold prejudicial attitudes toward groups perceived as threatening their (secular) worldviews, although this has some limits. Global increases in secularity make the nascent psychological study of nonbelievers and nonreligious worldviews an important research programme

Narrative letters of recommendation (NLORs) have become key elements of the application process for residency and fellowship. The potential to inadvertently admit bias into these subjective narratives has become an area of research focus across many disciplines. In the present review, we have highlighted the current data regarding bias in NLORs. We also believe that one of the most effective methods to eliminate bias from written recommendations is to first understand that it exists. Thus, the objective measures that have been taken to identify bias in NLORs are important steps in the right direction. We have presented and reflected on the accrued data on bias in NLORs pertaining to surgical training.

Vascular surgeons of all backgrounds play an important role in providing high quality vascular surgical care in their communities. In America, with our diverse population and communities, patients presenting with vascular disease are very common and could pattern the community demographic. Often faced with the challenges of community hospital politics and demand, the vascular surgical workforce has continued to be active members in their communities, focusing on their strengths to lead vascular surgery healthcare in an environment of high patient demand. Having a varied vascular surgery workforce provides all patients afflicted by vascular disease a comfortable opportunity for compassionate and empathic vascular care. This is a significant strength of vascular care when diversity, equity, and inclusion are supported by the leadership.

Surgical education requires proficiency with multiple types of learning to create capable surgeons. This article reviews a conceptual framework of learning that starts with the biological basis of learning and how neural networks encode memory. We then focus on how information can be absorbed, organized, and recalled, discussing concepts such as cognitive load, knowledge retrieval, and adult learning. Influences on memory and learning such as stress, sleep, and unconscious bias are explored. This overview of the biological and psychological aspects to learning provides a foundation for the articles to follow.

Multi-national and meta-analytic studies suggest that the pathways between religiousness and sexism/sexual prejudice are partially mediated by sociopersonality factors such as conservatism. In this article, we describe the contributing factors to this relationship, such as authoritarianism and fundamentalism. These factors interact at the dynamic nexus of individual and social development. As such, religiously situated sexism and sexual prejudice are not viewed as inevitable outcomes to religious practice and faith. Individual differences (e.g. conservatism), congregational (e.g. doctrine/policies, limited contact), and cultural factors (e.g. power hierarchies) mutually contribute to this landscape, and individuals ultimately make choices regarding their behavior and views. Further research exploring the mechanisms of religiously situated gender inequality and sexual prejudice is essential given the associated negative outcomes for individuals, relationships, and communities. Our growing grasp of the agentive pathways leading to religiously situated prejudice and discrimination is enriching our understanding of how individual differences and social contexts contribute to sexism and sexual prejudice.

A publication in the August 2020 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, "Prevalence of unprofessional social media content among young vascular surgeons," brought the concept of professionalism in the vascular surgery community to the forefront. In response to the methodology used in the article, and the definitions of professionalism, a global backlash from health care providers and lay people ensued. The article has since been retracted; however, its publication highlighted the need to reexamine current definitions and philosophies surrounding professionalism in medicine and surgery that may be discriminatory and exclusive. The term professionalism has no standard definition as evidenced by varying definitions among different societies and organizations. The lack of a structured, universally accepted definition of professionalism in the medical and surgical communities has resulted in no standard by which to measure the actions of physicians and surgeons. The definition of professionalism need not be complex and should not vary among specialties and societies. In its most simplistic form, the core definition of "professionalism" embedded in the volumes of publications, guidelines, and charters that exist on the subject of professionalism in medicine is respect. We propose a tiered approach to define professionalism in medicine that builds on fundamental principles of respect and inclusivity, and includes actionable steps at three levels: (1) individual, (2) organizational, and (3) societal. Through this approach, any physician, regardless of specialty, practice type or location, can apply these concepts to ensure they consistently embody what it means to be "professional."

Both impoliteness and hate speech deal with offensive behaviour, yet it is also obvious that they are not exactly the same. This paper aims to tease out the similarities and differences. The first part concentrates on theorising by impoliteness and hate speech scholars, and thus takes a second-order perspective. It discusses the notions of face (largely overlooked in studies of hate speech), incitement (largely overlooked in studies of impoliteness) and intentionality (and related concepts) (examined in both studies of impoliteness and hate speech, though often without explicit connections to the other field). The second part of the paper, taking more of a first-order perspective, concentrates on the metapragmatics of the labels impoliteness and hate speech, which are approached through the terms impolite and hateful. Hateful, in comparison with impolite is characterised by more extreme behaviours, the emotion of hurt, and associations of prejudice. This part of the paper also provides a demonstration of what one can do with corpus-methods. Overall, it is hoped that this paper will promote theoretical synergies, and also greater awareness of the labels that are used.

Prejudices can lead to discrimination, social exclusion, and violence particularly among young male adults. Previous findings suggest that the degree of holding prejudices is linked to low levels of empathy, while low levels of empathy have been associated with alexithymia, the inability to experience one's own feelings. We tested the hypothesis that the impact of a lack of empathy on reporting blatant and subtle prejudices is moderated by the inability to identify one's own feelings. In a sample of n = 136 young male adults aged 21 years (mean = 21.5 years; sd = 0.3), we conducted correlation and moderator analyses to determine possible relationships between prejudices, empathy, and alexithymia as assessed by self-report questionnaires. Prejudices were assessed by the Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scale (BSPS), empathy was assessed by the German modified version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and alexithymia by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Self-reported empathy levels were correlated with the strength of subtle and blatant prejudices. The moderation analyses revealed that the negative association between empathy and subtle prejudice increased with decreasing alexithymia. The negative association between empathy and blatant prejudice, on the other hand, was significant only for participants with low levels of alexithymia. These results suggest that empathy can limit the expression of blatant and to some degree also subtle prejudice when subjects are capable to identify their own feelings in a group of young males.

Stroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although the majority of strokes affect the elderly, the incidence of stroke in young patients is on the rise. Prompt recognition of stroke symptoms and time critical therapies play a key role in management and prognosis of this condition. This is especially critical in young stroke patients, for whom delays in early recognition and treatment can result in many years of disability with associated social and financial burden. Misdiagnosis and unwarranted variation in treatment of stroke in young patients is problematic. Clinician implicit bias, the unconscious and unintentional process of judgement in healthcare decision-making, is a contributor to the short-falls in outcomes in this population. Interventions in this process have been shown to improve clinical outcomes in young stroke patients and represent an active area of study.

This mixed-methods study examined the experiences of belonging/otherness among Arab teachers in Israel. A group of boundary-crossing teachers: Arab teachers in Jewish schools (AJ; N = 57) was compared with Arab teachers teaching in their own community (AA; N = 103). We found that the AJ group had a multicultural orientation, unlike the AA group, who were community-orientated. These orientations are reflected in different otherness sources, different motivations for selecting a workplace, and differences in identity ratings. While professional and social sources promoted teachers’ sense of belonging in the two groups, the source of AJs' sense of otherness was the national divide as opposed to community-oriented aspects in AAs. Selfefficacy ratings were high in both groups with a significant advantage for AJs, an unanticipated finding given that most of them were women, had attended teacher training colleges rather than universities, and were rarely homeroom teachers. Arab teachers' involvement in Jewish schools was partial with a low proportion of classroom educators or teachers in managerial roles. AJs tend to leave their national identity outside the school, and are not involved in political discourse or in the staffroom power relations. The phenomenon of integrating AJs is relatively new, and within a segregated education system that limits the opportunities for Jews and Arabs to meet, it can provide a viable, albeit limited, tool to inhibit prejudice and antagonism between Jews and Arabs.

The purpose of this study is to analyze by immigrants’ characteristics their participation in and social integration performance on the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP), which the Korean government provides for education in Korean language and basic knowledge about Korea to support the social integration of immigrants; on that basis, it suggests policy implications. For this purpose, I surveyed 1,014 immigrants, including 800 participants and 214 non-participants of the KIIP; among these individuals, 46.1 % had experienced discrimination. There were several reasons they felt they had been discriminated against; general prejudice against immigrants in South Korea and lack of Korean language ability were the most common. The immigrants who participated in KIIP included several groups: visiting relatives, those who had moved to be with their families, immigrants living in Seoul, Vietnamese people, non-Korean spouses, longer-term non-Korean residents, and non-Han Chinese individuals. Those immigrants who participated in KIIP showed a high degree of adaptability to Korean culture. Korean language proficiency, a key output of KIIP, was the most important factor in improving immigrants’ cultural adaptation, sense of societal belonging, and economic conditions.

The objective of this study was to identify the conditions of life of patients with mental and behavioral disorders admitted to a specialized hospital in an inner city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and their possible relationship with inequities and social exclusion. The information about the conditions of life was gathered through medical records and structured interviews with the patients. The data collected were compared with the recent literature on the subject. We conclude that the conditions of health, life and social vulnerability are associated with changes in family and social relationships, stigma, discrimination and prejudice, and barriers to the exercise of citizenship for these patients. Findings confirm the need for equity in this group's access to the exercise of human rights.

Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, an "infodemic" of false and misleading information has emerged and has complicated the COVID-19 response efforts. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have contributed largely to the spread of rumors, conspiracy theories, hate, xenophobia, racism, and prejudice. To combat the spread of fake news, researchers around the world have and are still making considerable efforts to build and share COVID-19 related research articles, models, and datasets. This paper releases "AraCOVID19-MFH"1a manually annotated multi-label Arabic COVID-19 fake news and hate speech detection dataset. Our dataset contains 10,828 Arabic tweets annotated with 10 different labels. The labels have been designed to consider some aspects relevant to the fact-checking task, such as the tweet's check worthiness, positivity/negativity, and factuality. To confirm our annotated dataset's practical utility, we used it to train and evaluate several classification models and reported the obtained results. Though the dataset is mainly designed for fake news detection, it can also be used for hate speech detection, opinion/news classification, dialect identification, and many other tasks. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Background Biographers aim to create a balanced interpretation of an individual life, both in the narrative of the life and the portrayal of the circumstances in which it was lived. Problem and method Factors that may distort balance in the account of a life are identified in a review of selected literature of experienced biographers. Findings Biographical evidence, the biographer’s relationship with the protagonist and ethical and privacy matters and are discussed in relation to the quality, adequacy and accessibility of records; maintaining distance from the protagonist; keeping the life in perspective; selecting an appropriate approach and dealing with private or intimate matters. Conclusion Partiality in the form of prejudice or bias and inaccuracy to the point of being untruthful, are threats to creating a balanced narrative. The credibility of a biography depends upon its honesty.

Black women have long experienced racism in various areas of their lives. Pregnancy is one of the times in a woman’s life when she is most vulnerable, and she should not have to worry that her health care will be subpar simply because she is Black. Most health care providers do not intend to harm their patients; however, systemic racism and the unconscious biases we hold may cause harm. Training nurses and other health care providers about implicit bias is one step toward eradicating racism from maternity care.

Prior research suggests two components of multicultural experiences—contact with cultural members and experiences with cultural elements—predict less prejudice via stronger identification with all humanity (IWAH). However, only one factor of IWAH (bond) was tested, and only United States samples were used. The present research examined both factors of IWAH (bond with, and concern for, all humanity) and used a nationally representative sample from Poland (N = 974), a more ethnically homogeneous and collectivist culture. We explored the association between multicultural experiences and negative intergroup attitudes (measured via fear of refugees, Islamophobia, and ethnocentrism) and humanitarian helping, and also tested the mediating role of both factors of IWAH on these attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Results largely replicate and extend prior findings, revealing contact with cultural members directly predicted stronger bond with and concern for all humanity, and less negative intergroup attitudes toward “others” (but not humanitarian helping). In contrast, experiences with cultural elements directly predicted stronger concern for all humanity (but not bond) and greater humanitarian helping (but not intergroup attitudes). Bond with all humanity mediated the association between contact with cultural members and less negative intergroup attitudes, while concern for all humanity mediated the association between both components of multicultural experiences and greater humanitarian helping. Findings support the benefits of multicultural experiences and their association with stronger IWAH and more positive intergroup outcomes beyond the United States, and also indicate unique roles for the IWAH bond and concern factors. Cultural differences, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Objective As the prevalence of obesity increases, more women are at risk of potentially experiencing weight stigma in prenatal health care settings. The objective of this scoping review was to summarize the primary literature assessing potential causes of weight stigma in prenatal health care settings and synthesize recommendations for health care providers to improve clinical practice. Methods A search strategy was developed combining the terms pregnancy, weight stigma, obesity, and prenatal care. A systematic search was completed in the following databases: Medline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Opengrey, and Proquest. Results Eighteen resources were included in this review, of which 17 were qualitative, and one was a mixed-methods study design. Weight stigma occurred in prenatal health care settings when providers: avoided weight-related discussions, assumed lifestyle behaviors, and had poor communication when discussing risks associated with obesity. Recommendations to prevent weight stigma included: offering sensitivity training to discuss obesity during pregnancy, implementing a patient-centred approach, including evaluating individual health behaviors, and providing educational resources to patients explaining potential risks and referrals. Conclusion This review summarizes recommendations to eliminate weight stigma in prenatal health care settings. Practice implications These recommendations can be implemented in clinical practice and can improve the delivery of prenatal care.

Psychologists’ interest in humility has increased in recent years. This paper provides the first review on the role of humility in the context of diversity. The results of the nine studies reviewed here, which were identified through a systematic literature search, show a lack of agreement among researchers on the conceptualisation of humility and how it can be measured. Additionally, humility has been found to be associated with less prejudice towards Syrian refuges, sexual minorities and religious groups. It also seems to play a positive role in the context of religious conflicts, disagreements and conflicting views. These promising findings on humility in relation to various domains of diversity are discussed, and the limitations of this review and recommendations for future research are provided.

While certain research topics regarding second-generation Muslim American women are still relevant, (e.g., Islamophobia and the hijab), recent research unearths the nuances within these topics while also moving away from them for a more holistic, accurate picture of the population. The gendered and racialized aspects of Islamophobia are examined, but so, too, are the responses and the agency of the women who are subjected to these prejudices. The reactions of Muslim women are critical to recognize as they highlight their agency and their presence as intentional actors in their own lives. Navigating both Muslim and non-Muslim spheres, they activate different sources of cultural knowledge for both while also creating their own dynamic, experiential sources. These new sources include the marrying of "American" technologies to traditional Islamic reasoning to create a third body of knowledge that is uniquely second-generation, Muslim, and American. The cumulative result of a generation of women having private identity revolutions is a slow but sure sociocultural change for Islam in America.

Prior research has demonstrated how negative emotions influence negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). However, what if there exist certain positive emotions that influence consumers to spread NWOM? This research develops and tests a novel prediction that shows how a discrete positive emotion – hubristic pride – can increase intention to engage in NWOM following a service failure. Results from six experiments support this prediction. Further, this research shows that psychological entitlement drives the effect of hubristic pride. Moreover, this effect is attenuated when consumers are nudged to focus on helping others. This research builds on current theory involving emotion and NWOM, presents a number of areas for future research, and discusses managerial implications stemming from the findings.

Right-wing populist parties have been particularly successful in East-Central Europe in the second decade of the 21st century. We explain this phenomenon using a demand—supply framework. We review studies about characteristics of East-Central European nationalism and intergroup tensions with minorities on the psychological demand side and the anti-immigrant political discourse on the political supply side. We conclude that the success of right-wing populism can be explained by a high, but unstable national identity in the region’s countries based on the experiences of the fragile national sovereignty, the deeply embedded and socially acceptable (i.e. normative) intergroup hostilities with minorities (especially toward the Roma minority), and the effective use of immigrant threat in this context.

Proponents of the ‘ideological symmetry thesis’ claim that liberals and conservatives are equally prejudiced — but against different groups. Whereas conservatives are said to be more prejudiced against ‘left-leaning’ groups (such as racial, religious, and sexual minorities), liberals are said to be prejudiced against ‘right-leaning’ groups (such as racial, religious, and sexual majorities). We identify several problems with scholarship in this area: (1) evidence for ideological symmetry with respect to intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination is unconvincing; (2) it is based on shaky conceptual foundations, including a problematic definition of prejudice; and (3) the ideological symmetry hypothesis is contradicted by much of what we know about intergroup relations in society. For instance, in the U.S, FBI hate crime statistics — cataloguing violent crimes motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity — show that members of racial/ethnic minority groups (African Americans, Latinx, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and mixed race individuals) are dozens of times more likely to be victims of hate crimes than European Americans, adjusting for population base rates. Muslims are dozens of times more likely and Jews are hundreds of times more likely than Christians to be victims. LGBTQ people are thousands of times more likely to be victimized than heterosexuals. After considering several interpretations of these and related facts, we conclude that twentieth century theories of authoritarianism, prejudice, and ideological asymmetry account for the totality of evidence much better than recent theories stressing moral and ideological equivalence.

Background Semmelweis reflex is a human behavioral tendency to stick to preexisting beliefs and to reject fresh ideas that contradict them (despite adequate evidence). We aim to familiarize the readers with the term that not only has a significant historical background but also grave clinical implications. Methods A keyword search for “Semmelweis reflex,” “Belief perseverance,” “handwashing,” and “Idea rejection” was conducted using PubMed Central, MEDLINE, and Google SCHOLAR. Literature published in paper-based journals and books was also searched. All manuscripts pertaining to these keywords were thoroughly analyzed for this review. Results The first section of our paper briefs the story of Ignaz Semmelweis and brushes on the contributions of other intellectual researchers that were rebuffed initially. The discussion further explains the root cause of this dismissal, an inherent bias against uncertainty that may be at the core of our fear for new ideas. Finally, this review explores the means by which we can prevent ourselves from being a victim of rejection. Conclusions The age-old prejudice that is Semmelweis reflex is explored in this review. With careful and thorough study design, scientific rigor, and critical self-analysis of the manuscript, one can avoid being victimized by this reflex. The dual edged nature of this reflex lays unveiled when its importance is highlighted in the prematurely accepted medical failures. Understanding that any new idea goes through the grill of being critically analyzed and perceived encourages the scientist to hold on to the original thought as it may rather be practice changing.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals include, but are not limited to, those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). LGBTQ individuals are considered a marginalized and at-risk population, facing significant health care inequities when compared with heterosexual and cisgendered (ie, "gender-conforming") populations. They are more likely than heterosexual and cisgendered individuals to experience discrimination, bias, and dissatisfaction with the medical system. This article provides a broad overview of systemic inequalities confronting SGM patients.

The internationalization of academic production has changed the publishing culture in all corners of the world with increasing participation of scholars from semi-peripheral countries in international journals ( Belcher, 2007 ). While there has been growing interest in how multilingual scholars see this internationalization process, little is known about Brazil. To address this gap, a survey was distributed to scholars (N = 290) from different research fields in this country. The analysis of the data revealed important disciplinary differences, suggesting the existence of a peripheral group of scholars inside this semi-peripheral country. The scholars from the exact and biological sciences reported that they publish in English much more frequently than Portuguese, and few reported language-related issues. They contested the existence of a nativeness bias, although some perceived prejudice against Latin-American research. Scholars from the humanities and the social sciences publish substantially less in international journals, reporting challenges particularly with language. Overall, the data suggest that international publication has become part of the disciplinary culture in Brazil in the hard sciences while the humanities and the social sciences seem to remain in a peripheral position. This appears to be particularly true for disciplines such as education and language and literature.

The niqab provokes a heated debate in European societies and generates intolerance towards women who wear it. Some of the explanations used to criticize this Muslim garment refer to the idea that women wear the niqab as a form of patriarchal oppression. Furthermore—especially after the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremists—the niqab is seen as a symbol of religious radicalization. We carried out 10 communicative daily life stories with Muslim women wearing the niqab in Spain, to explore the adverse experiences that they face, as well as the ways to transform them. Our analysis, informed by a communicative approach, revealed different forms of discrimination, such as prejudice, personal attacks and social isolation. Furthermore, it revealed some opportunities to transform these experiences, through the equality of differences, the egalitarian dialogue, and the support of faith-based organizations. Ultimately, our findings illustrated participants’ persistent defense of their right to express their religious identity.

The history of Giovanni Falconi’s career and his vaccination campaigns is two hundred years old. It is however very relevant today because of the widespread negative social opinion against vaccination at that time, opinions which seem to have re-emerged even in the current century. In his very important role of “Vaccine Conservator” (a sort of national supervisor for the quality of vaccinations), he clashed with the prejudice of the people and with the anti-scientific attitudes of some of his illustrious colleagues. He investigated how to simplify the procedure with a smallpox needle that became known as “Falconi’s Needle” or “Falconian Needle”. Falconi also made several experiments on smallpox vaccine preparation and was a supporter of the use of “animal” and “humanized” formulas despite the prejudice regarding the latter. Due to his profound anatomical knowledge and the strength of mind that characterized him, he was able to follow evidence-based scientific principles in his methods. Thanks to this he managed to convince people not to oppose vaccinations. He also succeeded in bringing the number of vaccinated people to exceed the number of newborns, a great achievement that led to remarkable progress in Italy and the rescue of thousands of lives throughout Europe. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a copy of this instrument, which required the author to have the needle reconstructed.

Diversity within health care organizations has many proven benefits, yet women and other groups remain underrepresented in cardiothoracic surgery. We sought to explore responses from a Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) survey to identify myths and barriers for informing organizational strategies in the STS and cardiothoracic surgery. We performed a qualitative review of narrative survey responses within three domains surrounding diversity in cardiothoracic surgery: myths, barriers, and strategies for improvement. Common diversity myths included diversity as a pipeline problem (24%), diversity equated to exclusivity (21%), and diversity not supporting meritocracy (18%). The most frequent barrier code was perceived prejudice (22%). Suggested strategies toward improvement were culture change prioritizing diversity (22%) and training the leaders (14%). Notably, 15% of response codes reflected the belief that disparities do not exist; thus, the issue should not be prioritized by the organization. The results do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of most of the STS membership; nonetheless, they provide important insight critical to guide any efforts toward eliminating disparities within cardiothoracic surgery and improving the care of our patients.

The aim of the study was to measure and compare prejudice towards people with specific mental illnesses between mental health professionals and the general population, and examine personality, ideological, and attitudinal antecedents of prejudice. To do so, we also aimed to validate three shortened scales of prejudice. A sample of mental health professionals (N = 299) and a sample from the general population (N = 427) completed shortened versions of the Prejudice towards People with Mental Illness, Prejudice towards People with Schizophrenia, and Prejudice towards People with Depression scales. They also completed measures of validity criteria and demographics. The scales demonstrated construct validity in both samples. Although prejudice was highest towards people with schizophrenia and lowest towards people with depression, mental health professionals demonstrated significantly less prejudice overall than the general population. Prejudice was associated with higher social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, conservatism, and generalized prejudice, and lower agreeableness, openness to experience, and contact. These antecedents of prejudice were better predictors than any demographic or profession-related variables examined. This study contributes increased knowledge of the structure and correlates of prejudice towards people with mental disorders. This knowledge should inform more nuanced and effective interventions, therapy, and training.

Our knowledge of how ethnic minority students explain and make sense of their friendship preferences in a university setting remains limited, despite the significance of friendships in the adaptation of students to higher education. Drawing on findings from qualitative interviews, this article explores the friendship preferences of 20 Turkish-Belgian university students in the northern part of Belgium. An inductive thematic analysis is conducted to analyse the interviews through constant comparison. The findings demonstrate that students who preferred same-ethnic friendships valued the role of familiarity and a shared understanding. Students with predominantly interethnic friends referred to having interests and attitudes similar to those of their friends. While students’ friendship preferences evolved over time throughout their educational career, the university context allowed students to strengthen or change their preferences for certain groups of friends with particular traits and/or lifestyles and hence facilitated their preferences for homophilous friendships. These friendship preferences and searches were also shaped by inclusion/exclusion processes. Nearly all participants felt excluded or othered by peers of Belgian origin during everyday interactions on campus. However, they interpreted these exclusion experiences differently based on their peer groups and used distinct coping mechanisms, resulting in distinct patterns of friendship preferences.

With grounding in the Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice, we explore individual difference predictors of attitudes toward transgender people. In particular, we measure general and gender conservatism, as well as the previously unexplored predictors of erotophobia–erotophilia (comfort with sexuality) and quality of previous contact with sexual minorities. In this North American student sample (N = 218), attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (ATLG) correlated strongly with the Transgender Belief Scale (r = 0.82), suggesting a lack of differentiation between sexual minority groups. Multiple regression models indicated that participant gender and conservatism (as measured through homophobia, benevolent sexism and authoritarianism) contributed uniquely to transgender attitude prediction. After excluding the ATLG as a predictor, contact quality with sexual minorities, erotophobia–erotophilia, religious fundamentalism, benevolent sexism, and participant gender emerged as predictors of transgender beliefs. Separate gender analyses suggest that benevolent and hostile sexism might function differently in the prediction of transgender attitudes for women and men, respectively. Findings also suggest that secondary transfer via contact with sexual minorities may influence feelings about transgender people. Implications for sex educators are discussed.

Research on ‘concept creep’ argues that harm-related concepts such as abuse, bullying, prejudice, and trauma have expanded their meanings in recent decades. Theorists have suggested that this semantic expansion may have mixed implications. Broadened concepts might problematize harmful behavior that was previously tolerated but might also make people over-sensitive and fragile. Two studies using American MTurk samples (Ns = 276, 309) examined individual differences in the breadth of people's concepts of harm and explored their correlates. Study 1 found reliable variations in concept breadth that were consistent across four disparate harm-related concepts. As predicted, people with broader concepts tended to endorse harm-based morality, liberal political attitudes, and high empathic concern. Contrary to prediction, younger people did not have broader concepts. Study 2 replicated the association between concept breadth and liberalism and extended the empathy finding by showing that concept breadth was associated with sensitivity to injustice toward others but not the self. In this study, people holding broader concepts were younger and tended to feel more vulnerable and entitled. These findings indicate that holding broader concepts of harm may have mixed implications.

This study examined whether egocentric bias in emotional understanding occurs in children and adults. Children aged 8 and 9 years (third graders), 11 and 12 years (sixth graders), and 15 and 16 years (tenth graders), as well as adults, participated. They were presented with two types of stories in both negative and positive contexts. In one story, an actor intentionally harmed or helped a protagonist. In the other story, an actor accidentally harmed or helped a protagonist. In the knowledge condition, the protagonists in both stories watched the actors and therefore knew that the actors intentionally or accidentally harmed or helped. In the ignorance condition, the protagonists in both stories did not watch the actors and therefore did not know the actors’ intentions. Participants were asked which protagonists felt sadder or happier. Not only in the knowledge condition but also in the ignorance condition, all age groups judged that the protagonists who were harmed or helped by the actors’ intentional actions felt sadder or happier than the protagonists who were harmed or helped by the actors’ accidental actions, aligning with participants’ current knowledge. This tendency was greater in third and sixth graders than in tenth graders and adults. These results indicate that egocentric bias in emotional understanding occurred irrespective of age and negative or positive context, although this bias was stronger at younger ages.

Prior research, and high-prolife contemporary examples, show that individuals tend to underestimate their own levels of bias. This underestimation is partially explained by motivational factors. However, (meta-) cognitive factors may also be involved. Conceptualising contemporary egalitarianism as type of skill or competence, this research proposed that egalitarianism should conform to the Dunning-Kruger model. That is, individuals should overestimate their own ability, and this overestimation should be strongest in the least competent individuals. Furthermore, training should improve metacognition and reduce this overestimation. Two studies on racism (N = 148), and sexism (N = 159) partially supported these hypotheses. In line with the Dunning-Kruger model, participants overestimated their levels of racial and gender-based egalitarianism, and this pattern was strongest among the most prejudiced participants. However, diversity training did not affect participants' overestimation of their egalitarianism. Implications for contemporary prejudice, and prejudice-reducing strategies are discussed.

Although contact-based interventions are the cornerstone of prejudice reduction, in high-conflict environments, incendiary contact with outgroups can instead exacerbate negative attitudes. Supplementing contact interventions with social-cognitive/emotional approaches may, instead, help facilitate positive contact. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two prejudice reduction interventions among 148 Palestinian-Israeli and 154 Jewish-Israeli 5th grade students (Mage.years = 10.55, SD = 0.26) in a high conflict area. Schools in Jaffa, Israel were assigned to a social-cognitive/emotional skills-based intervention, a skills- and contact-based intervention (i.e., skills, skills+contact), or the control group—all delivered as part of the curriculum. Prejudice was assessed through participants' judgments of and justifications about hypothetical scenarios of intergroup exclusion in peer and home contexts at pre-test, post-test, and 6-month follow-up. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed various main effects including gender, ethnicity, and context in which the exclusion occurred (peer/home). Significant higher level interactions with group by time demonstrated the positive influence of both treatment groups on prejudice reduction. The skills and skills+contact groups became more rejecting while the control group became more accepting of exclusion across time. Additionally, the skills and skills+contact groups increased in moral and empathic reasoning over time, whereas the control group increased in social conventional and stereotyped prejudiced reasoning. These findings illustrate the effectiveness of in-school social-cognitive/emotional skills and combined skills+contact approaches in reducing the prejudiced attitudes of Palestinian- and Jewish-Israeli pre-adolescents, especially in areas with protracted conflict.

Rationale The literature on the effect of perceived discrimination on health has three gaps. First, the long-term relationship between perceived discrimination and health is underexplored. Second, the mechanisms through which perceived discrimination affects health remain unclear. Third, most studies focus on racial/ethnic discrimination, and other aspects of discrimination are overlooked. Objective This study aims to fill these gaps by testing a research framework that links the discriminatory experience during adolescence to an individual's health during mid-adulthood via self-esteem and risk behaviors at early adulthood. Method Structural equation modeling is applied to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort (N = 6478). Results The discriminatory experience during adolescence imposes an adverse impact on health during mid-adulthood even after accounting for other potential covariates, a detrimental effect lasting for over 30 years. In addition, while perceived discrimination reduces self-esteem at early adulthood, it affects only mental health during mid-adulthood, rather than general health. Finally, the discriminatory experience promotes risk behaviors at early adulthood and the risk behaviors subsequently compromise health during mid-adulthood. Conclusions Using a life course perspective, we find that the effect of perceived discrimination is more profound than the literature suggested and that risk behaviors may account for approximately 17% of the total effect of perceived discrimination on health. Our findings highlight the importance of early interventions in coping with perceived discrimination during adolescence.

The present study surveyed the understanding of epilepsy and attitudes toward epilepsy among teachers in Japanese schools for special needs education. An adapted version of a self-reported questionnaire, consisting of 27 questions, was sent to 3474 teachers at all schools for special needs education in Saitama Prefecture. The response rate to the questionnaire was 62%, corresponding to 2109 valid responses. The responses to three basic questions were as follows: 99% had heard about "epilepsy", 90% had seen epileptic seizures, and 63% had an acquaintance who had epilepsy. Numerous questionnaire items gave low correct answer rates for knowledge- and attitude-related questions. Correct responses to knowledge questions and a positive attitude toward epilepsy were associated with whether individuals had acquaintance with epilepsy, experience seeing a seizure, and read or heard about epilepsy. There was skepticism and uncertainty about whether people with epilepsy should be allowed to drive, likely due to vague fears of the risks of driving with epilepsy. According to our results, knowledge about epilepsy does not necessarily lead to a positive attitude. However, respondents who had acquaintances with epilepsy were most likely to demonstrate a positive attitude. Thus, familiarity is an essential factor in the likelihood of having a positive attitude toward epilepsy. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to understand how to manage and respond to epilepsy. There were a variety of concerns related to people with epilepsy driving. This finding highlights the importance of disseminating correct information on the risks of driving with epilepsy.

Background Many factors contribute to the well-recognized health care disparities experienced by persons with disability, including failure of physicians to understand the lives of individuals with disability. Disability cultural competence considers physicians’ ability to meet the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of this population. Objectives To assess physicians’ understanding of disability cultural competence and attitudes towards patients with disability. Methods Qualitative analyses of open-ended individual interviews averaging 41 min with 20 Massachusetts physicians from 5 different subspecialties, in practice for 8–51 years. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim for conventional content analysis. Results Most participants defined disability using medically-focused concepts rather than concepts that recognize how social factors contribute to disability. All participants used disability culturally-competent language, such as “person-first language,” at some points throughout their interviews. However, most participants also employed language that is now considered unacceptable or archaic, such as variations on the word “handicap,” “wheelchair-bound,” describing persons with disability as “suffering,” and calling persons by their health condition (e.g., “COPDer”). Participants mentioned persons with mental illness and intellectual disability as particularly challenging, especially around communication and performing even routine tests or examinations. Recommendations for improving care included better listening to patients with disability and seeking their views about their care. Conclusions In this exploratory study, most participants used language that is considered disability culturally competent at times but also employed many terms and concepts that are considered outdated and may be troubling to some persons with disability.