Engendering Empathy, Begetting Backlash: American Attitudes toward Syrian Refugees

Engendering Empathy, Begetting Backlash: American Attitudes toward Syrian Refugees. Claire Adida, Adeline Lo & Melina Platas. University of California Working Paper, May 2017, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2978183

Abstract: Existing research has shown how easily individuals are moved to harbor exclusionary attitudes toward out-group members. Can we foster inclusion instead? This paper leverages the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis – one of the most significant humanitarian crises of our time – to test whether and under what conditions American citizens adopt more inclusionary attitudes and behaviors toward Syrian refugees. We conduct a nationally representative survey of American citizens in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election and experimentally test two mechanisms hypothesized to promote inclusion: information and empathy. We examine attitudinal measures of acceptance of refugees, as well as a substantively important behavioral measure – writing a letter to the 45th president of the United States in support of refugees. Our results unveil significant effects on attitudes and behavior of both empathy and information treatments that are mediated by partisanship. The empathy treatment resulted in an increase in the likelihood of writing a letter in support of refugees. An examination of heterogeneous effects by party reveals that the empathy treatment engendered inclusionary attitudes among Independents, and the increase in letter writing was driven primarily by Democrats, whose underlying attitudes did not change, but also by Republicans. The information treatment, on the other hand, did not robustly improve attitudes or behavior of Democrats or Independents, and may have induced a backlash among Republicans. We discuss implications for understanding what kinds of interventions increase inclusion and which create backlash.

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Remember too: Napier, J. L., Huang, J., Vonasch, A. J., and Bargh, J. A. (2017) Superheroes for Change: Physical Safety Promotes Socially (but Not Economically) Progressive Attitudes among Conservatives. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2315

Acculturational Homophily

Acculturational Homophily. Dafeng Xu. Economics of Education Review, August 2017, Pages 29-42, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027277571730119X

Abstract: Economists have long recognized the influence of friends on various outcomes among immigrants, and also observed the benefit of acculturation. This paper lies at the intersection of the above two topics: by focusing on a typical behavior of acculturation, namely English-name usage, I examine the extent of acculturational homophily among Chinese students. Specifically, I investigate the relationship between self English-name usage and English-name usage of close friends using online social networking data on students who receive undergraduate education in China and graduate education in the U.S. The empirical analysis relies on an instrumental variable strategy: I use the indicator of the difficulty of pronouncing the Chinese name in English to instrument for English-name usage. Results suggest the presence of acculturational homophily: students with English-name usage have more close friends who are also English-name users, and the relationship is not based on the number of close friends overall.

Keywords: Acculturation,  Homophily, Migration, International students, Language, Name
JEL Classification: I2 J1 Z1

Hispanic Population Growth Engenders Conservative Shift Among Non-Hispanic Racial Minorities

Hispanic Population Growth Engenders Conservative Shift Among Non-Hispanic Racial Minorities. Maureen Craig & Jennifer Richeson. Social Psychological and Personality Science, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550617712029

Abstract: The racial/ethnic diversity of the United States is increasing, yet recent social psychological research has focused primarily on White Americans’ reactions to this demographic trend. The present research experimentally examines how members of different racial minority groups perceive increasing diversity, driven by Hispanic population growth, focusing on downstream consequences for political ideology and policy preferences. Four studies reveal that making Hispanic population growth salient leads non-Hispanic racial minorities to identify as more conservative and support more conservative policy positions, compared with control information. The policy preferences of Hispanics, however, were not affected by exposure to information about their in-group’s growth. Considered in tandem with previous research, the present studies suggest that Hispanic population growth may motivate greater support for conservative ideology among members of both racial majority and minority groups.

Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior

Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior. Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens & Sarah Bohn. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, https://crim.sas.upenn.edu/working-papers/immigration-employment-opportunities-and-criminal-behavior

Abstract: We take advantage of provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which granted legal resident status to long-time unauthorized residents but created new obstacles to employment for more recent immigrants, to explore how employment opportunities affect criminal behavior. Exploiting administrative data on the criminal justice involvement of individuals in San Antonio, Texas and using a triple-differences strategy, we find evidence of an increase in felony charges filed against residents most likely to be negatively affected by IRCA’s employment regulations. Our results suggest a strong relationship between access to legal jobs and criminal behavior.

Treating Objects like Women: The Impact of Terror Management and Objectification on the Perception of Women’s Faces

Treating Objects like Women: The Impact of Terror Management and Objectification on the Perception of Women’s Faces. Christina Roylance, Clay Routledge & Benjamin Balas
Sex Roles, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-017-0747-x

Abstract: There is a modern trend whereby women’s beauty and attractiveness tends towards the artificial, which appears to be an extreme manifestation of objectification culture. Research suggests that sexual objectification has the ability to alter the way we perceive women. Objectification occurs, in part, because women’s bodies pose a unique existential threat, and objectifying women is believed to mitigate concerns about mortality because it transforms women into something inanimate and thus less mortal. We therefore hypothesized that priming death concerns should impact object-person recognition of women. In the present study we recruited 177 undergraduate students from a U.S. Midwestern university to participate in exchange for course credit. We utilized face-morphing techniques to create a series of images representing a continuum of artificial-to-real faces, and after being exposed to a death reminder (as opposed to a pain reminder comparison condition), we asked participants to rate the extent to which the image appeared artificial. Results suggested that death awareness biases people towards reporting artificial female (but not male) faces as real. Existential concerns about death have an impact on perceptual assessments of women, specifically women who have been turned into literal objects. Future research directions, limitations of the current study, and implications for improving women’s health and well-being with this added knowledge about objectification are discussed.

Keywords: Objectification, Terror management, Perception, Health, Sexism, Social psychology,  Women and gender studies, Implicit attitudes, Gender equality

Effects of Exposure to Alcohol-related Cues on Racial Discrimination

Effects of Exposure to Alcohol-related Cues on Racial Discrimination. Elena Stepanova et al.
European Journal of Social Psychology, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.2325/full

Abstract: Prior research has shown that exposure to alcohol-related images exacerbates expression of implicit racial biases, and that brief exposure to alcohol-related words increases aggressive responses. However, the potential for alcohol cue exposure to elicit differential aggression against a Black (outgroup) relative to a White (ingroup) target — that is, racial discrimination — has never been investigated. Here, we found that White participants (N = 92) exposed to alcohol-related words made harsher judgments of a Black experimenter who had frustrated them than participants who were exposed to nonalcohol words. These findings suggest that exposure to alcohol cues increases discriminatory behaviors toward Blacks.

Spatial Cues Influence the Visual Perception of Gender

Spatial Cues Influence the Visual Perception of Gender. Sarah Lamer, Max Weisbuch & Timothy Sweeny. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318475730_Spatial_Cues_Influence_the_Visual_Perception_of_Gender

Abstract: Spatial localization is a basic process in vision, occurring reliably when people encounter an object or person. Yet the role of spatial-location in the visual perception of people is poorly understood. We explored the extent to which spatial-location distorts the perception of gender. Consistent with evidence that the perception of objects is constrained by their location in visual scenes, enhancing perception for objects in their typical location (e.g., Biederman et al., 1982), we hypothesized that people would see relatively greater femininity in faces that appeared lower in space. On each of many trials, participants briefly viewed a pair of faces that varied in gender-ambiguity. One face appeared higher than the other, and participants identified the 1 that looked more like a woman’s face (Study 1) or indicated whether the 2 faces were the same (Study 2). Across 2 experiments, participants perceived greater femininity in faces seen lower (vs. higher) in space. These effects seem to be perceptual — changes to spatial location were sufficient for altering whether 2 faces looked identical or different. Thus, spatial-location modulates visual percepts of gender, providing a biased foundation for downstream processes involved in gender biases, sexual attraction, and sex-roles.

Competition over collective victimhood recognition: When perceived lack of recognition for past victimization is associated with negative attitudes towards another victimized group

Competition over collective victimhood recognition: When perceived lack of recognition for past victimization is associated with negative attitudes towards another victimized group. Laura De Guissmé & Laurent Licata. European Journal of Social Psychology, March 2017, Pages 148–166. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.2244/full

Abstract: Groups that perceive themselves as victims can engage in “competitive victimhood.” We propose that, in some societal circumstances, this competition bears on the recognition of past sufferings — rather than on their relative severity — fostering negative intergroup attitudes. Three studies are presented. Study 1, a survey among Sub-Saharan African immigrants in Belgium (N = 127), showed that a sense of collective victimhood was associated with more secondary anti-Semitism. This effect was mediated by a sense of lack of victimhood recognition, then by the belief that this lack of recognition was due to that of Jews' victimhood, but not by competition over the severity of the sufferings. Study 2 replicated this mediation model among Muslim immigrants (N = 125). Study 3 experimentally demonstrated the negative effect of the unequal recognition of groups' victimhood on intergroup attitudes in a fictional situation involving psychology students (N = 183). Overall, these studies provide evidence that struggle for victimhood recognition can foster intergroup conflict.

The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market

The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market. David Deming
Quarterly Journal of Economics,  https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ddeming/files/deming_socialskills_aug16.pdf

Abstract: The labor market increasingly rewards social skills. Between 1980 and 2012, jobs requiring high levels of social interaction grew by nearly 12 percentage points as a share of the U.S. labor force. Math-intensive but less social jobs - including many STEM occupations - shrank by 3.3 percentage points over the same period. Employment and wage growth was particularly strong for jobs requiring high levels of both math skill and social skill. To understand these patterns, I develop a model of team production where workers “trade tasks” to exploit their comparative advantage. In the model, social skills reduce coordination costs, allowing workers to specialize and work together more efficiently. The model generates predictions about sorting and the relative returns to skill across occupations, which I investigate using data from the NLSY79 and the NLSY97. Using a comparable set of skill measures and covariates across survey waves, I find that the labor market return to social skills was much greater in the 2000s than in the mid 1980s and 1990s.

Exposure to Sexual Stimuli Induces Greater Discounting Leading to Increased Involvement in Cyber Delinquency Among Men

Exposure to Sexual Stimuli Induces Greater Discounting Leading to Increased Involvement in Cyber Delinquency Among Men. Cheng W, Chiou W. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28621556

Abstract: People frequently encounter sexual stimuli during Internet use. Research has shown that stimuli inducing sexual motivation can lead to greater impulsivity in men, as manifested in greater temporal discounting (i.e., a tendency to prefer smaller, immediate gains to larger, future ones). Extant findings in crime research suggest that delinquents tend to focus on short-term gains while failing to adequately think through the longer-term consequences of delinquent behavior. We experimentally tested the possibility that exposure to sexual stimuli is associated with the tendency to engage in cyber delinquency among men, as a result of their overly discounting remote consequences. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to pictures of "sexy" women were more likely to discount the future and were more inclined to make cyber-delinquent choices (e.g., cyberbullying, cyber fraud, cyber theft, and illegal downloading), compared with male participants who rated the sex appeal of less sexy opposite-sex pictures. However, these relationships were not observed in female participants exposed to either highly or less sexy pictures of men. In Experiment 2, male participants exposed to sexual primes showed a greater willingness to purchase a wide range of counterfeit rather than authentic products online and experienced a higher likelihood of logging into the other person's Facebook webpage (i.e., invading online privacy). The discounting tendency mediated the link between exposure to sexual primes and the inclination to engage in cyber-delinquent behavior. These findings provide insight into a strategy for reducing men's involvement in cyber delinquency; that is, through less exposure to sexual stimuli and promotion of delayed gratification. The current results suggest that the high availability of sexual stimuli in cyberspace may be more closely associated with men's cyber-delinquent behavior than previously thought.

Not Our Fault: Judgments of Apathy Versus Harm Toward Socially Proximal Versus Distant Others

Not Our Fault: Judgments of Apathy Versus Harm Toward Socially Proximal Versus Distant Others. Michael Gilead, Yair Ben David & Yael Ecker. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617714583

Abstract: The current research aimed to delineate the moral intuitions that underlie apathy toward the suffering of socially distant others. Past research has shown that people endorse in-group-focused morality, according to which the fate of socially distant others is discounted, and harm-focused morality, according to which the omission of care is viewed less negatively as compared to the commission of harm. In the current study, we investigated how these two moral principles interact, by examining whether increased social distance differentially attenuates the severity of moral judgments concerning acts of apathy and harm. The results of five studies show that judgments concerning the omission of care are dependent on social distance, whereas judgments concerning the commission of harm are not. The findings challenge normative theories of morality that deny the legitimacy of "positive rights" and positive theories of morality that see harm and care as two end points of the same psychological continuum.

"Lie to me" - Oxytocin impairs lie detection between sexes

"Lie to me" - Oxytocin impairs lie detection between sexes. Michaela Pfundmair, Wiebke Erk & Annika Reinelt. Psychoneuroendocrinology, October 2017, Pages 135-138. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453017304729

Abstract: The hormone oxytocin modulates various aspects of social behaviors and even seems to lead to a tendency for gullibility. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of oxytocin on lie detection. We hypothesized that people under oxytocin would be particularly susceptible to lies told by people of the opposite sex. After administration of oxytocin or a placebo, male and female participants were asked to judge the veracity of statements from same- vs. other-sex actors who either lied or told the truth. Results showed that oxytocin decreased the ability of both male and female participants to correctly classify other-sex statements as truths or lies compared to placebo. This effect was based on a lower ability to detect lies and not a stronger bias to regard truth statements as false. Revealing a new effect of oxytocin, the findings may support assumptions about the hormone working as a catalyst for social adaption.

Keywords: Oxytocin, Lie detection, Sex, Adaption

Lying Upside-Down: Alibis Reverse Cognitive Burdens of Dishonesty

Lying Upside-Down: Alibis Reverse Cognitive Burdens of Dishonesty. Anna Foerster et al. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28557488

Abstract: The cognitive processes underlying dishonesty, especially the inhibition of automatic honest response tendencies, are reflected in response times and other behavioral measures. Here we suggest that explicit false alibis might have a considerable impact on these cognitive operations. We tested this hypothesis in a controlled experimental setup. Participants first performed several tasks in a preexperimental mission (akin to common mock crime procedures) and received a false alibi afterward. The false alibi stated alternative actions that the participants had to pretend to have performed instead of the actually performed actions. In a computer-based inquiry, the false alibi did not only reduce, but it even reversed the typical behavioral effects of dishonesty on response initiation (Experiment1) and response execution (Experiment 2). Follow-up investigations of response activation via distractor stimuli suggest that false alibis automatize either dishonest response retrieval, the inhibition of the honest response, or both (Experiments 3 and 4). This profound impact suggests that false alibis can override actually performed activities entirely and, thus, documents a severe limitation for cognitive approaches to lie detection.