[lit-ideas] Re: Violence
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 13:33:12 +0900
The following just popped up on Anthro-L. Some here might find it=20
interesting.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
April 20, 2004
Hard-Wired for Prejudice? Experts Examine Human Response to =
Outsiders
By NANCY WARTIK
It's only a short step from feeling angry to feeling angry at=20
someone,
especially if that person is of a different social group, sex or
ethnicity.
At least that is what psychologists who are investigating the =
link
between emotions and prejudice are finding.
In a study that measured how emotional states affected views of
outsiders, the researchers, from Northeastern University and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, found that anger=20
increased the
likelihood of a negative reaction to members of a different group=20=
and
that sadness or a neutral emotion did not.
The study will appear in the May issue of the journal=20
Psychological
Science.
Taken together with other research, the findings suggest that
prejudice may have evolutionary roots, having developed as a=20
quick,
crude way for early humans to protect themselves from danger.
"The anger is serving as a signal that there's some level of=20
threat or
hostility in the environment," said Dr. David DeSteno, an=20
assistant
professor of psychology at Northeastern University and an author=20=
of
the study. "And if there's a threat in your environment, it's =
more
likely to come from someone not in your social group than someone=20=
who
is, because usually social group members reinforce each other.=20
They
protect each other from outsiders."
The new research on emotions and prejudice has been partly=20
inspired by
changing ideas about the nature of emotion itself. Social=20
scientists
once dismissed emotions as an illogical nuisance. But by the=20
1980's,
researchers had begun to consider emotions useful in their own=20
right.
"Emotions and the response tendencies that go with them help=20
guide our
reactions to the world," Dr. Galen V. Bodenhausen, director of =
the
social psychology program at Northwestern University, said.=20
"Rational
thought is great in a lot of circumstances where you have time =
and
latitude to do it. But emotions provide rapid, immediate=20
guidance, a
gut reaction."
In 1994, Dr. Bodenhausen conducted one of the first studies to=20
show
that moods could affect whether people invoked hurtful=20
stereotypes. In
it, the researchers gave 135 undergraduate psychology students a
writing exercise that left them feeling sad, angry or neutral.=20
Next,
they had the students read fictional case histories and rate the
likelihood that the people described in the stories were guilty =
of
misconduct.
Some participants read about "Juan Garc=EDa," a student who had
supposedly assaulted a classmate. Others read the same case, with=20=
the
name changed to "John Garner."
Some students read about a student accused of cheating, while=20
others
read the same case history, with the student identified as a=20
college
athlete.
Angry students, the researchers found, were more likely to find=20=
Juan
Garc=EDa guilty of assault than John Garner. They were also more=20=
likely
to think that the athlete had cheated. The students who were=20
neither
angry nor sad tended not to rely on stereotypes in their=20
judgments.
Students who felt sad were, if anything, biased in favor of the=20=
people
linked with negative stereotypes.
"Angry situations often require rapid response," Dr. Bodenhausen=20=
said
of the results. "It's not a good time to be pensive."
For better or worse, he noted, stereotyping, arising as it does=20=
from
the mind's tendency to make sense out of the world by=20
categorizing and
simplifying, provides a basis for that rapid response.
Sadness, on the other hand, "isn't often associated with =
immediate
threats," Dr. Bodenhausen said, but "with losses or other kinds =
of
problems that being reflective and thoughtful might help you to
solve."
Sad students, he said, may have been in a frame of mind that led=20=
them
to evaluate the case histories more slowly and to reach more=20
judicious
conclusions.
In the new study, Dr. DeSteno and his colleagues tried to=20
demonstrate
that people are, at a very basic level, wired to distrust=20
outsiders.
In one part of the study, volunteers answered quiz questions =
like,
"How many people ride the New York subway every day?" and were
classified as overestimators or underestimators.
In fact, the quiz was a ruse, and the participants were randomly
assigned to one group or the other. The researchers then induced
angry, sad or neutral moods in the participants and had them take=20=
a
computerized test.
In the test, positive words like love or negative words like =
death
were flashed on a screen, followed by an image of someone=20
identified
as an underestimator or an overestimator. The subjects were asked=20=
to
respond to each photograph by pressing a key labeled "us" or=20
"them."
When the photos followed positive words, the researchers found,=20=
the
angry subjects took significantly longer to identify members of=20=
the
"them" group than they did when the photos followed negative=20
words.
Response time on such tests is considered a good measure of=20
automatic,
unconscious thought patterns.
It may seem intuitively obvious that feeling angry can elicit
hostility toward outsiders. But another study by Dr. Bodenhausen
demonstrated that the responses of happy people were quite=20
similar to
those of angry people, that they were more likely to draw on=20
negative
stereotypes in judging guilt or innocence.
Dr. Bodenhausen speculated that this might be because the mind
essentially strives to function as a fuel-efficient machine.
"Happiness is associated with environments that are safe, where=20=
things
are going well," he said. "When we feel happy, going with simple=20=
first
reactions seems adequate for judging the world."
It also may ensure, he added, that "when the time comes to=20
confront
problems, we'll have the energy to do it."
In other instances, a biased reaction may provide a quick boost=20=
for
the ego. In a study at the University of Michigan in 1997, the
researchers looked at about 125 undergraduate pyschology =
students,
with Jews and foreigners excluded, and found that those who had
suffered blows to their self-esteem were more likely than those=20=
with
high self-esteem to assign negative stereotypes to a woman in a=20=
video
who wore a Star of David necklace and was identified as "Julie
Goldberg."
The more negatively the subjects with low self-esteem rated=20
Julie, the
more their own self-esteem levels increased.
On the other hand, both groups of subjects gave positive=20
evaluations
to a woman identified as Maria D'Agostino who was wearing a =
cross.
"For most people, it is a constant task to try to feel good about
themselves," said Dr. Steven Spencer, a psychologist at the=20
University
of Waterloo in Ontario and a co-author of the study. "It can take=20=
a
lot of effort and work."
Thinking bad things about people in another group, Dr. Spencer=20
said,
makes people feel better about their own group, "which then makes=20=
them
feel better about themselves."
Being more aware of the effects that emotions can have on=20
attitudes,
Dr. Bodenhausen said, can be helpful in daily life.
"People may be very reluctant to confront this about themselves,
because it's so undesirable to be prejudiced," he said.=20
"Confronting
the possibility that these biases exist in us is a necessary part=20=
of
the solution."
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
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