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Given the exponential increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide, it has become critical to examine the experiences of refugees; particularly their identity, since it is an important marker of their adjustment to the new context. Besides other factors impacting their identity and adjustment, the role of the leader is important as it can impact the construction of refugee identities. This paper explores the construction and negotiation of Tibetan refugee identities through the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and erstwhile political leader of the Tibetans. It is postulated that leaders are entrepreneurs of identity who shape identity construction and negotiation. With an emphasis on the social, political, and historical context, three kinds of sources are analysed using a discourse‐historical approach to understand how leaders function as entrepreneurs of identity across the various contexts and negotiate identity construction across the shifting contexts. First, 12 speeches by the Dalai Lama on 10 critical events in Tibetan history since 1959; second, six speeches by the Dalai Lama for Tibetan Uprising Day (1961–2009); and third, two international interviews (CNN, 2009; BBC, 2012). The analysis demonstrates that the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama has strong elements of protection towards the ingroup, that is, the Tibetan refugees, through the crafting of a collective sense of identity for Tibetans. The study sheds new light on the nature of refugee leadership, acknowledging the impact of the shifting nature of identity, from a native citizen to refugee; and the leader's identity entrepreneurship in these evolving and often malleable contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Existing studies confirm that some video games can change players' attitudes. However, since we do not know the specific elements responsible for attitude change, the potential of video games to achieve desired educational or behavioural outcomes often remains unfulfilled. Objectives: To fill the research gap, our study examined whether the perspective‐taking game mechanic in the serious game Czechoslovakia 38–89: Borderlands, which had previously been shown to affect attitudes, would have the same effect on another sample of players with different characteristics. Methods: We have assessed the effect of a historical video game using a perspective‐taking mechanic on players' explicit and implicit attitudes. Explicit attitude changes were measured at a general level, meaning a broad evaluation of a depicted historical event, and at a specific level, meaning a more detailed evaluation of specific aspects of the event. Simultaneously, we measured the effect of players' perceived attitude importance on attitude change. The study used a sample of 137 young adults. Results and Conclusions: This study's results indicate a significant pretest‐posttest explicit attitude change on the general level and on a specific level in comparison to the control group. Perspective‐taking game mechanics is particularly important for explicit attitude change. No change was found in implicit attitudes. The effect of the perceived attitude importance on attitude change was not confirmed. Takeaways: As one of the first to focus on the effects of specific game mechanics on attitudes, this study confirmed that perspective‐taking has stable, short‐term effects on attitude change even across different research samples. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: It is unclear why some video games can change players' attitudes while others do not.Several studies confirm video games' effect on explicit, but not on implicit, attitudes.Research on the effects of game mechanics on attitude changes is in its infancy.Very few studies focus on what role player characteristics play in their attitude changes. What our paper adds to this: Perspective‐taking as game mechanics changes explicit attitudes across populations.Perceived importance of players' attitudes towards topics not necessarily affects attitude changes.We show that only some facets of attitudes are influenced by the video game. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Particular game mechanics seem to be essential for attitude changes in players.Attitude importance and other player characteristics need further research in the video game context.DIF‐C analysis can provide more detailed information on changes in more complex explicit attitude concepts.Video games can affect the way we interpret the world around us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural relations benefit from the social psychological study of arguments made by different groups about joint projects of mutual concern. This focus allows researchers to map representations of the project in question, among communities in different cultural milieus. This paper presents a study looking at Arabs' views on the project of integration. Arabs' perspectives revolved around six argumentative themes: cultural, economic, psychological, religio‐cultural, socio‐political or stigma‐related. After comparing all claims on integration across the communities involved (the Arab minority and the Maltese majority), we describe Arabs' positive, negative and mixed/ambivalent socio‐political claims in detail, complementing a previous study on majority views. This enables a discussion of Arabs' perspectives in view of the semiotic resources relevant to localised intercultural relations. Arabs' argumentative themes clearly reflect three key patterns: (a) social representation of integration as difficult but necessary, (b) minority representation of the majority group as being resistant to integration and (c) de‐essentialism of ingroup and outgroup. These patterns contrast with the majority members' arguments in significant ways. Findings are discussed theoretically in view of how minority arguments re‐present social processes to advance or resist intercultural projects, and substantively in terms of the application of these findings for ameliorating intercultural relations in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes toward and contact with lesbian women and gay men were assessed through questionnaires in a 2-year follow-up study in a cohort of 511 Norwegian participants, 19 years of age at first data collection. A substantial proportion reported negative attitudes at baseline (between 39 and 63%) and two years later (between 32 and 59%), females being more positive than males. A majority reported having no contact with lesbian women or gay men either at 19 years of age (66–79%) or 2 years later (51–62%). Longitudinally, the measures were moderately stable (Pearson's r 0.43–0.73), and contact change was positively related to attitude change. Also, attitude change positively predicted contact change. The findings imply that efforts to reduce stigma associated with homosexuality are still needed among young people in Norway. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on common‐ingroup identity has mainly focused on consequences and potential benefits of inclusive social categorizations. However, very little is yet known about processes and conditions that could facilitate such inclusive social categorizations. In this paper, with four studies (N = 582) set in a post‐conflict context of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with members of two ethnic groups (Bosniaks and Serbs), we have demonstrated how perceptions of intergroup moral similarity can act as an important precursor of common‐ingroup identity at the national level. We report both cross‐sectional as well as experimental evidence demonstrating how perceptions of intergroup moral similarity boost common‐ingroup identifications in socially relevant context using members of real adversary social groups. Moreover, we show that learning about outgroups' morally admirable behaviours can facilitate inclusive social categorizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and teaching conditions have, particularly for those who are junior or from disadvantaged backgrounds, deteriorated considerably over the years in the higher education sector. Unequal opportunities in access and advancement in careers have led to increasing levels of precarity in the higher education sector. Although the concept of precarity has been grasped in many other disciplines, the social‐psychological understanding of this concept remains unexplored. In this paper, we aim to develop a social‐psychological understanding of precarity to examine how identity dynamics and intergroup relations, as well as associated organizational controls, reinforce inequality regimes and power structures that create precarious conditions in academia. In doing so, we use social identity theory and system justification theory under an inequality regime framework. We argue that even though change towards equality and equity in academia should be possible, it is difficult to achieve this because of entrenched identity interests by power holders and the perceived legitimacy of the existing system. Therefore, academic precarity should be recognized both as a subjective experience and as an organizational practice to make inequalities more visible and decrease the perceptions of legitimacy—and to eventually achieve a fundamental positive transformation in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this British Psychological Society (BPS) landmark paper, we employ an evidence synthesis approach to review the broad range of diversity research published in BPS journals between 2011 and 2021. By focusing on research that investigates stereotypes associated with, and discrimination towards, minority and minoritized groups, we seek to provide readers with a better understanding of the dynamics of a diverse workforce and, going forward, to facilitate the efforts of the psychology research community towards building a body of work that meaningfully addresses workplace inequalities. We thematically analyse and synthesize 25 articles, which fall into four interconnected themes: identity development and management; negative stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination; working in a diverse team; and the broader organizational environment. Highlighting key strengths of this work and areas for future development, we note the absence of overarching theoretical debates and discussions that might facilitate the development of an on‐going narrative across diversity‐related research published within BPS journals. We outline a future research agenda to bridge methodological divides and to connect with diversity literatures in related disciplines such as human resource development (HRD), human resource management (HRM), and organization studies. In so doing, we advocate for psychologists to move beyond a solely individualistic perspective and instead recognize and account for the context within which diversity‐related processes take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role that social group processes, and multiple group membership in particular, play in supporting resilience and post‐traumatic growth following the experience of violence and abuse. Drawing on social identity theorizing, we develop and test a model that (a) predicts an association between multiple group membership and positive outcomes of resilience and post‐traumatic growth, and (b) explores mechanisms, of personal control and identification with anti‐violence activists, through which group membership might exert this effect. This model was tested using data from a sample of predominantly White South African adults recruited through numerous sources including a non‐government organisation that supports victims of violence and abuse (N = 112). Results showed that multiple group membership was positively related to post‐traumatic growth and provided a basis for enhanced personal control and identification with activists. Personal control also mediated the relationship between multiple group membership and resilience. We discuss the implications for theory and practice and suggest there is value in working with social group memberships following trauma to support recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Self‐deprecation' (SD) is widely understood within social psychology and popular culture as a form of self‐talk that reflects a cognitive state, such as low self‐esteem or negative self‐regard. However, most research on SD suffers theoretical and methodological problems that fail to account for how its cognitive and linguistic aspects can be reconciled. We know little about SD as it occurs in interactional settings. Utilizing a conversation analytic (CA) perspective that brackets cognitive explanations for linguistic phenomena, this paper draws on more than 100 hours of transcribed recordings of interactions from diverse settings to systematically examine the form and function of a common class of SD: critical comments by a speaker on their current talk or actions (self‐deprecatory meta‐comments; SDMCs). Analyses demonstrate that SDMCs are used in environments of possible or actual interactional trouble, and manage this trouble in different sequential positions. The paper shows that SDs can be treated as a communication practice. Rigorous analysis of SDMCs can enrich understanding of the construction of 'identities' in talk. It advances a CA understanding of the ascription of social actions, and the preference for self‐criticism over criticism by others. Findings suggest that widespread advice to self‐deprecate less may be invalid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fascinating recent work, some philosophers have argued that it would be morally permissible and prudentially rational to sign up for cryonics—if you can afford the price tag of the procedure. In this paper I ask: why not share the elixir of extended life with everyone? Should governments financially support, positively encourage, or even require people to undergo cryonics? From a general principle of beneficence, I construct a formal argument for cryonics promotion policies. I consider the objection that a subset of these policies would violate autonomy, but I argue that—to the contrary—considerations of autonomy weigh in their favour. I then consider objections based on cost and population, but argue that neither is fatal. Finally, I raise the objection that I believe poses the most serious challenge: that those who revive the cryonically preserved might inflict suffering upon them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that far‐right (FR) populism in the West is fuelled by inequality. In this paper, we argue that three social psychological processes are central to explaining these phenomena. We suggest that these processes are recursive although we do not specify their temporal order. Drawing on the social identity tradition, we first examine how inequality is linked to reduced social trust and cohesion, which has consequences for both low‐ and high‐income groups. We examine the known effects of perceived threat in amplifying tensions between groups and consolidating identity positions. Second, we argue that national identity consolidation is a particularly likely response to inequality, which, in turn, reduces tolerance of cultural diversity as an associated consequence. Finally, we consider the value of these strengthened national identities to those who harness them effectively to gain political ground. In this way, those who offer FR populist rhetoric aligned with nationalism can blame immigrants, "foreign" powers, and mainstream politics for both the lack of social cohesion and reduced economic circumstances of many. We conclude that FR populist leaders not only tap into the negative social consequences of inequality, their policy positions also fail to address and may even compound the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a culturalist interpretation of the outcome of the Brexit referendum. This interpretation is grounded on the analysis of the U.K.'s cultural milieu, which is part of a more general study of the cultural milieus of several European countries. Specific to the United Kingdom, our analysis is based on a questionnaire carried out on a representative sample of U.K. respondents stratified by sociodemographic variables and geographic region (NUTS1). Responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis—a combination of multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis. Findings about the multicountry analysis show how cultural milieus are characterized by five basic, embodied, affect‐laden, generalized worldviews (defined as "Symbolic Universes"). Four out of five symbolic universes consist of a way of interpreting reality by a specific anchorage (i.e., the ethical norm, the institutional order, the emotional experience interpersonal bond, and the belongingness). One symbolic universe can be viewed as the anomic reaction to the failure of those anchorages. Focusing on Brexit, by means of a discriminant analysis, it is showed how the incidence of the symbolic universes (and of the underpinning basic dimensions of meaning within the 12 U.K. macroregions') enables to identify differentially the macroregions with high proportion of "leave" at the Brexit referendum against those with low proportion. More specifically, the high "leave" macroregion are characterized by higher relevance of cultural forms anchored on local identity/belongingness. Findings are discussed within the wider aims of the project and its implications for a cultural psychology informed policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay introduces Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy's collection of papers on the social psychology of the 2012 election, framing it in terms of two prior collections. The papers are described as reflecting four themes: President or Barack Obama's path from outsider to incumbent, the nation's shift toward increasingly racialized politics, contemporary perceptions of 'Americanness,' and the role of moral values in political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construction of national identities through political discourse is a growing field of interest to social psychologists, particularly as many countries face changing demographics, borders and social realities as part of globalization, immigration and continued political integration and conflict. Through an analysis of 17 key speeches by Serbian politicians over the past 25 years, the present paper explores the question of how politicians, as entrepreneurs of identity, discursively manage the relationship between identity continuity and political change over time, in attempts to construct the future of a nation. We particularly explore this issue in the context of Serbia's present political aspirations toward joining the European Union. The findings indicate that (i) political change becomes negotiated within the framework of established and legitimized identity discourses that have developed over time, and (ii) while history is frequently drawn on to support political agendas, it is successful to the extent that this history offers a sense of cultural continuity rather than a coherent narrative of historical events and time periods. We conclude by arguing for the benefits that a diachronic approach to political discourse can offer social psychologists interested in the discursive construction of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for individual social behavior, B, that incorporates the contributions of both the personality of the actor, P, and the relevant features of the situation, S, in which he or she is performing. In analyzing the original formula by Lewin, viz., B = f( P. S), the paper first considers the importance accorded the situation in previous theorizing about ' Asianness'. It then analyzes the contributions of the actor's personality, noting in particular that actors come to develop broad expectancies for situational outcomes, P( S), associated with situations they encounter. Those situations are glossed for social psychological purposes in terms of their affordances for potential yields relative to the actor's motivations for sociality and status. These situational affordances are defined by the normative prescriptions believed to be operative in that situation for acceptable enactments of behaviors aimed at attaining the actor's goals for sociality and status. That normative pressure is objective, though it may be judged by the actor, and is termed the O( S) component of the situation. It is held with some degree of consensus, CO( S), by others in, or observers of, the situation. These two components specify the 'strength' of the situation for social psychological purposes, yielding an elaborated Lewinian formula B = f( P. P[ S]. O[ S]. CO[ S]). The culture of the participants, national, organizational, familial or dyadic, will determine the beta weights linking the components of the formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on prejudice seeks to understand and transform inaccurate beliefs about others. Indeed, historically such research has offered a cautionary tale of the biased nature of human cognition. Recently, however, this view has been challenged by work defending the essential rationality of intergroup perception, a theme captured controversially in Jussim and colleagues' (2009) research on the 'unbearable accuracy of stereotyping'. The present paper argues that in its own terms the 'rationalist turn' in socio-cognitive research on stereotyping presents an important challenge to the prejudice tradition, raising troubling questions about its conceptual and empirical foundations. However, it also argues for the necessity of transcending those terms. By focusing on the correspondence between individual beliefs and the supposedly 'objective' characteristics of others, we neglect the historical and discursive practices through which the social realities that we 'perceive' are actively constructed and institutionalized. We mask their social origins, contested and perspectival nature, relativity, and relationship to wider structures of power. By implication, moving beyond the Allportian perspective that has dominated both the prejudice tradition and the emerging stereotype accuracy paradigm, we may now need to prioritize other kinds of questions. Reversing Allport's famous definition of prejudice, it may now be time to ask: How, and with what consequences, does 'thinking ill of others' become sufficiently warranted? How does such thinking become part of institutionalized relations of power and an accepted way of perceiving, evaluating and treating others? What should social psychologists be doing to challenge this state of affairs? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Turner, whose pioneering work on social identity and self-categorization theories changed the face of modern social psychology, died in July 2011. This unique virtual special issue celebrates Turner's life and work by reproducing a number of key articles that were published in the British Journal of Social Psychology and the European Journal of Social Psychology over the course of his career. These articles are of three types: first, key position papers, on which Turner was the leading or sole author; second, papers that he published with collaborators (typically PhD students) that explored key theoretical propositions; third, short commentary papers, in which Turner engaged in debate around key issues within social psychology. Together, these papers map out a clear and compelling vision. This seeks to explain the distinctly social nature of the human mind by showing how all important forms of social behaviour - and in particular, the propensity for social influence and social change -are grounded in the sense of social identity that people derive from their group memberships. As we discuss in this editorial, Turner's great contribution was to formalize this understanding in terms of testable hypotheses and generative theory and then to work intensively but imaginatively with others to take this vision forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social image, or the views that others have of us and our groups, plays a role in a wide array of psychological processes, including impression management, interpersonal relationships, mate selection, intragroup and intergroup processes, the experience and expression of emotion, gender differences in behavior, and the construction and maintenance of social status. The 13 papers included in this special issue reflect the centrality of social image in these and other social-psychological processes. Five major themes integrate this diverse selection of papers: (i) self-presentation of social image; (ii) culture-specific conceptions of social image; (iii) the role of social image in emotion; (iv) respect and status as reflections of social image; and (v) the influence of social image on ingroup and outgroup perceptions. Taken together, these papers illustrate the importance of social image for understanding the complexities of human behavior and point to new ways to study this important topic. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of globalisation has gained tremendous momentum over recent decades, resulting in unprecedented human interconnectedness and awareness of global concerns. The current special issue of the European Journal of Social Psychology brings together 10 papers that address this development. This special issue showcases different perspectives on the psychological processes that underlie the cognitive and behavioural responses to the global challenges humankind has created and is now facing. In introducing these contributions, we identified three emerging topics for social psychological theorising and application vis-à-vis globalisation and global concerns: (i) supranational identification and attachment, (ii) political and ideological responses to globalisation and global concerns, and (iii) global protest and change. We integrate these topics by highlighting some future prospects of this emerging field of research and its significance for understanding social change in these tumultuous times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary organizations have long been believed to have important effects on the attitudes of their members, but the relatively few attempts to investigate such effects have produced inconsistent results. This paper uses a statewide proportional sample to investigate relationships between (a) membership and participation in ten types of voluntary organizations and (b) two types of attitudes about the community. After individual and community characteristics were controlled, experience with voluntary organizations was found to explain about five percent of the variance in respondents' perceptions of their ability to influence community affairs, but relationships with willingness to leave the community were considerably weaker. Somewhat stronger relationships were found when the analysis was confined to respondents for whom voluntary organizations or community participation was particularly salient. Overall, this paper indicates that the impact of voluntary organizations on community attitudes is weaker than earlier theoretical statements have suggested. However, it also shows that the relationship varies according to type of organization, salience of participation for the respondent, respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, and the specific community attitude being investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intricate interactions between language and culture shape bilingual and bicultural individuals' psychological responses to social contexts. Language carries cultural scripts, ideals, and practices, which can be activated by situational cues. In the process of managing two acquired languages, bilinguals shift their self-perception and self-presentation to accommodate the prototypical norms characteristic of the culture being primed by language use. Cultural mindset can explain such language priming effects. In the process of negotiating two intersecting cultures, integrating bicultural identities is central to psychological adjustment among individuals experiencing immigration-based and globalization-based acculturation, whereas bilingual or trilingual competence is important to sojourners' adjustment. The present paper reviews empirical work along these lines of research and suggests that it is possible for alternation and integration to coexist within the same individuals who integrate their bicultural identities and alternate their behavioural responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates how people identify with groups depending on the clarity of a group's identity content. According to self-categorization theory, self-stereotyping (i.e., projection of group prototypes onto self) should be the cognitive process underlying social identification. We argue, however, that this is only plausible in clearly defined groups. If a group is unclear in terms of its identity content, we argue that self-anchoring (i.e., projection of personal self onto group) accounts for social identification. In line with these hypotheses, two studies (with minimal and real groups) reveal that self-anchoring positively predicts the level of social identification and entitativity in unclearly, but not clearly defined groups. Conversely, self-stereotyping positively predicts the level of social identification in clearly, but not unclearly defined groups. Together, these findings are the first to demonstrate the differential impact of cognitive projection processes on social identification depending on group clarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two complementary explanations have been offered by social psychologists to account for the universal hold of national identity, first that national identity is ideologically assumed, as it forms the 'banal' background of everyday life, and second that national identity is 'hotly' constructed and contested in political and everyday settings to great effect. However, 'banal' and 'hot' aspects of national identity have been found to be distributed unevenly across national and subnational groups and banality itself can be strategically used to distinguish between different groups. The present paper develops these ideas by examining possible reasons for these different modes and strategies of identity expression. Drawing upon intergroup theories of minority and majority relations, we examine how a group who see themselves unequivocally as a minority, Irish Travellers, talk about their national identity in comparison to an age and gender-matched sample of Irish students. We find that Travellers proactively display and claim 'hot' national identity in order to establish their Irishness. Irish students 'do banality', police the boundaries and reputation of Irishness, and actively reject and disparage proactive displays of Irishness. The implications for discursive understandings of identity, the study of intra-national group relations and policies of minority inclusion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the talk of three senior figures from the Palestinian Hamas political movement. Data are drawn from a series of journalistic interviews that were conducted in the months leading up to the invasion of Gaza by Israel in December 2007. Using membership categorization analysis, we explore the membership categories and category-bound attributes that interviewers use in questions about responsibility for potentially culpable actions and the ways that these are taken up, challenged, or reworked by interviewees in presenting their own versions. The analytic findings show that interviewers deploy categories bound up with terrorism while interviewees develop alternative categorizations of resistance. Interviewers construct Palestinians as victims of Hamas' actions while interviewees construct them as victims of Israeli aggression and international indifference. In warranting these alternative constructions, the interviewees contrast current behaviours of the international community with those of the past and align current Palestinian actions with those previously taken by Western nations in resisting illegitimate occupations. Through these descriptions of categories and actions, the interviewees attribute to the wider international community responsibility for addressing the events of the ongoing conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers one theme in the contemporary legacy of Potter and Wetherell's (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology. It overviews the context that led to that book and considers a series of critical responses from both experimental and critical/qualitative social psychologists. It refutes criticisms and corrects confusions. Focusing on contemporary discursive psychology, it highlights (a) its rigorous use of records of actual behaviour; (b) its systematic focus on normative practices. In methodological terms, it (a) highlights limitations in the use of open-ended interviews; (b) considers the way naturalistic materials provide access to participants' own orientations and displays; (c) builds a distinctive logic of sampling and generalization. In theoretical terms, it (a) highlights the way discourse work can identify foundational psychological matters; (b) offers a novel approach to emotion and embodiment; (c) starts to build a matrix of dimensions which are central to the constructing and recognizing of different kinds of social actions. It now offers a fully formed alternative social psychology which coordinates theory and method and a growing body of empirical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper considers how our understanding of religious identifications may be enriched through social psychological theorizing on group identity. It reviews a range of work (for example, sociological and social psychological) concerning Islam and Muslim identities and develops the case for viewing religious identities as constructed in and through argument. It then seeks to draw out the implications of such an approach for understanding group relations. Although minority religious identifications are often assumed to undermine social cohesion, the social networks within and between groups can contribute to inter-group harmony. For example, reciprocal relationships characterized by trust and reciprocity can constitute forms of social capital that facilitate civic integration. Yet, how such social networks are used and how relationships are developed depends on group members' understandings of their collective identity. As this is contested, it follows that analyses of intergroup relations must attend to group members' identity-related arguments and the strategic concerns that lie behind them. The utility of this perspective is illustrated briefly with empirical material (arising from interviews conducted with Muslim activists) which hints at the importance of investigating social actors' own theories of social capital and how it can be developed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the relationship between Islam and the secular aspects of society which differentiate Islamic societies from other states. Bound up with this question is the issue of the extent to which Islamists challenge proposals that religion should be 'set aside' when people act as citizens by arguing that Islam embraces the whole of life. Using discourse analysis we examine extracts from media interviews with leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement about Islam and its application within the Gaza strip. The interviewees construct religion as being congruent with existing social practices within Gaza. This allows interviewees to make three claims: that the introduction of Islam will make no difference to existing society, that Islam will be tolerant of existing social practices, and that potentially criticisable political acts should be viewed in civic rather than religious terms. By so doing, the interviewees display sensitivity to potential distinctions between religious and civic practices and attend to inferences that might arise in respect of inter-group relations. Constructions of religion and of civic society can thus be viewed as participants' rather than analysts' concerns and should be examined for their functions within both distal and local contexts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the concept of ideological dilemmas in order to explore how a sample of young people constructed potentially contrary themes of liberal citizenship in discussions of un/employment. The study took place in the context of recent policy developments in the UK which have sought to place a renewed emphasis upon notions of responsible citizenship in relation to both welfare and education policy. A total of 58 participants were interviewed in 24 semi-structured group interviews. In response to direct questions on un/employment, participants could resolve dilemmas concerning welfare rights and the responsibility to contribute to society by emphasizing a criterion of effortfulness, thereby adopting a primarily individualistic explanation of unemployment. In other contexts however, this could be replaced by an emphasis on social explanations of unemployment. In particular, participants could treat immigration as a cause of unemployment. These findings are interpreted in terms of people's capacity to construct rhetorical strategies based upon different ideological themes in particular contexts. They are discussed in relation to previous research on social policy discourse and recent debates regarding the appropriateness of seeking to identify ideological themes in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Social integration of people with intellectual disability (ID) moving into regular neighbourhoods tends to be studied and evaluated without detailed knowledge about the social psychological aspects of everyday interaction between neighbours with and without ID. The goal of the present paper is to show how the authors' social psychological research programme may contribute to this field of inquiry. Methods The different ways in which societies respond to features and behaviours that may be perceived as deviant are theoretically analysed. Results of empirical studies are reported to clarify how social responses to people with ID are special in terms of perceptions, emotions and interaction desires of people with and without ID during a pre-contact and contact phase. Results On the basis of the theoretical analysis, it is concluded that regular neighbouring in modern Western society often takes the form of benevolent tolerance, rather than stigmatisation and prejudice. However, empirical studies reveal that, prior to getting people with ID as new neighbours, prospective neighbours without ID experience a specific pattern of emotions that are associated with specific desires (e.g. with respect to information supply or a caring relationship). These anticipatory reactions are dependent on the expected size of the group moving in and on the severity of ID. Furthermore, while actually engaging in neighbouring, neighbours with and without ID appear to have experiences related to behaviour of residents, staff and features of housing facilities that are perceived as (in)congruent with regular neighbouring. Conclusions It is concluded that interpersonal relationships between neighbours with and without ID should not be simplified in terms of attitudes that would be primarily prejudiced/stigmatising versus entirely accepting. Rather, our studies paint a more complex picture of sometimes ambivalent thoughts, feelings and interaction needs that all should be taken into account to make social integration a success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates how cognitive projection processes instigate social identification. We complement the classical self-stereotyping approach (i.e., conforming to prototypical group norms) by investigating self-anchoring (i.e., projection from self to group) as a distinct cognitive route to social identification. Self-anchoring has mainly been investigated as predictor of intergroup differentiation. Surprisingly, no reliable link has been provided yet between self-anchoring and social identification. In Study 1, we provide first evidence for this positive link. In Study 2, we add self-stereotyping to our model and show that self-anchoring is still positively related to social identification when controlling for self-stereotyping. Additionally, we show that self-anchoring is positively related to affective components of identification, while self-stereotyping is positively related to cognitive components. Moreover, we examined the impact of self-concept stability on self-anchoring. Self-concept stability was positively related to self-anchoring, and hence to social identification (Study 1), independently from self-stereotyping (Study 2). In the discussion, we argue that disentangling self-anchoring from self-stereotyping is important as it increases our insight in how people identify, and how this may vary depending on self-concept and group context. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports 2 studies of the own-anchor effect (i.e., assimilation in age, height, and weight estimates) in same- and cross-gender age, height, and weight estimates. The own-anchor effect is believed to be stronger for same-gender estimates, but the investigation reported here is the first to test this hypothesis with participants and target persons of both genders. Several own-anchor effects were found in females’ same- and cross-gender estimates, whereas males only showed own-anchor effects in same-gender estimates. These results lean toward the possibility that women assimilate across gender, whereas men do not. Explanations of these results with reference to Krueger’s (Krueger & Zeiger, 1993; Robbins & Krueger, 2005) theory of social projection and the consequences for witness reliability are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue for a social psychological approach to citizenship which focuses on how social actors define competent and legitimate polity membership, together with the associated rights and responsibilities that this entails. A perspective based on the principles of rhetorical psychology is adopted in order to explore these issues in an analysis of a sample of young people's talk about issues of immigration to the UK. Analysis considers how matters of 'race', national identity and culture were oriented to and constructed during the interviews. We then explore how rights and responsibilities concerning cultural expression, interpersonal civility/courtesy and (implicitly acultural) legal frameworks were articulated as practical criteria for judgements about competent and legitimate polity membership. These findings are discussed in relation to existing social psychological work on issues such as racism and national identity, with a view to situating these matters within an overarching concern for the construction of polity membership. We conclude by briefly considering the implications of these findings for contemporary debates concerning citizenship education in the UK. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimicry is functional for empathy and bonding purposes. Studies on the consequences of mimicry at a behavioral level demonstrated that mimicry increases prosocial behavior. However, these previous studies focused on the mimickee. In the present paper, we investigated whether mimickers also become more helpful due to mimicry. In two studies, we have demonstrated that participants, who mimicked expressions of a person shown on a video, donated more money to a charity than participants who did not mimic. Moreover, the processes by which mimicry and prosocial behavior are related largely remain empirically unexamined in existing literature. The results of Study 2 confirmed our hypothesis that affective empathy mediates the relationship between mimicry and prosocial behavior. This suggests that mimicry created an affective empathic mindset, which activated prosocial behaviors directed toward others. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed a renewal of interest in intergroup contact theory. A meta-analysis of more than 500 studies established the theory's basic contention that intergroup contact typically reduces prejudices of many types. This paper addresses the issue of process: just how does contact diminish prejudice? We test meta-analytically the three most studied mediators: contact reduces prejudice by (1) enhancing knowledge about the outgroup, (2) reducing anxiety about intergroup contact, and (3) increasing empathy and perspective taking. Our tests reveal mediational effects for all three of these mediators. However, the mediational value of increased knowledge appears less strong than anxiety reduction and empathy. Limitations of the study and implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical exploration of the discursive and socio-historical practice of 'dyadic-containment' as a principle index for how we know, experience, and authenticate romantic relationships. Making intelligible an 'authentic' relationship as something which is fixed, enclosed and exclusive, the pervasive principle of dyadiccontainment has considerable implications for what it means to live out 'authentic' but ostensibly liberated relationships. Using post-structuralist discourse analysis to explore ways in which people can account for their consensual non-monogamous relationships (same and cross-sex, dyadic and non-dyadic), we critique the liberal-humanist framework from which such relationships can be played out. In that dyadic-containment as an aspect of an ontology of interiorized and contained 'realness' can be viewed as serving to characterize and authorize monogamous relationships (as we illustrate), practices of consensual non-monogamy that reproduce dyadic-containment as an organizing and authenticating principle are problematized. Limits to understandings and practices of some 'alternative' romantic relationships are therefore expounded and consideration is given to how relational difference might be otherwise premised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the diffusion and transformation of scientific information in everyday discussions. Based on rumour models and social representations theory, the impact of interpersonal communication and pre-existing beliefs on transmission of the content of a scientific discovery was analysed. In three experiments, a communication chain was simulated to investigate how laypeople make sense of a genetic discovery first published in a scientific outlet, then reported in a mainstream newspaper and finally discussed in groups. Study 1 (N = 40) demonstrated a transformation of information when the scientific discovery moved along the communication chain. During successive narratives, scientific expert terminology disappeared while scientific information associated with lay terminology persisted. Moreover, the idea of a discovery of a faithfulness gene emerged. Study 2 (N = 70) revealed that transmission of the scientific message varied as a function of attitudes towards genetic explanations of behaviour (pro-genetics vs. anti-genetics). Pro-genetics employed more scientific terminology than anti-genetics. Study 3 (N = 75) showed that endorsement of genetic explanations was related to descriptive accounts of the scientific information, whereas rejection of genetic explanations was related to evaluative accounts of the information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychologists have long recognized that people fundamentally differ with respect to their social value orientation (SVO), that is, self-regarding versus other regarding preferences, and that these differences affect cooperative behaviour in situations of interdependence. In this paper, we systematically review the vast number of findings on SVO and cooperation, and synthesize the state of the art by presenting an integrated conceptual model that may explain why and when people with different social values select different behavioural strategies in social dilemmas. Specifically, building on Pruitt and Kimmel's (1977) goal/expectation theory and our review of the literature, we suggest that the relationship between SVO and cooperative behaviour is mediated by (1) a cooperative goal and (2) the specific expectations concerning alters' behaviour. We also propose that trust and goal alignment are important contextual moderators of this relationship: for prosocials, cues signalling trust are necessary to generate positive expectations regarding alters' behaviour, whereas proselfs need external incentives to align their personal interest with a cooperative goal. We conclude this review by pointing to several avenues for future research that would help to deepen our understanding of the role of SVO in human cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A questionnaire survey (n = 90) and an interview study (n = 63) of anti-roads activities suggest links between participation and generalization. First, level of activism predicted whether others were perceived as encouraged to act environmentally. Second, participants' failure to stop construction of the road did not prevent them from developing related feelings of efficacy. Participants' perceptions of out-groups were also examined. Participants were least hostile to those they defined as sharing their interests and capable of subjective change; they were most hostile to those seen as betraying the environmental cause. Practically, these findings suggest the importance of collective participation. Theoretically, the paper argues that efficacy theory be developed to acknowledge that identity can be collective as well as individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores whether the theory of planned behavior (TPB) must abandon the notion that perceived behavioral control (PBC) has a direct influence on behavior. In a cross-sectional survey of 895 Swiss residents, our hypothesis was tested by means of structural equation models. Applied specifically, PBC turned out to be a significant direct predictor of one's performance. A general version of the TPB based on aggregated measures, however, revealed PBC's direct influence on behavior to be nonsignificant and, presumably, a non-universally applicable and thus nongeneralizable part of the theory. Intention determined 51% to 52% of people's ecological behavior, which supports the claim of a strong attitude behavior relation. Attitude, subjective norms, and PBC, the 3 TPB components, account for 81% of intention's variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-analyses of research using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) show that these models explain on average between 40% and 50% of the variance in intention, and between 19% and 38% of the variance in behavior. This paper evaluates the performance of these models in predicting and explaining intentions and behavior. It discusses the distinction between prediction and explanation, the different standards of comparison against which predictive performance can be judged, the use of percentage of variance explained as a measure of effect size, and presents 9 reasons why the models do not always predict as well as we would like them to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines student unrest at a single university in the late nineteenth century as a case study of the general student rebellion common in land-grant schools during that period. A conceptual framework exploring the relationship between an emerging student culture, traditional educational philosophy, and contemporary trends of economic and demographic change is used to interpret these historical data. Students actively sought university experiences that would facilitate movement into occupational roles expanding as a result of these trends. The unwillingness of the university to facilitate this movement resulted in two student rebellions, which in turn forced the university into accepting a previously rejected student culture. These case study data suggest that rural populations during the late nineteenth century used land-grant colleges and universities as avenues for upward mobility, often against the wishes of campus administrators. Comparisons are made between student unrest during this period and the 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The illusory correlation effect (ICE) refers to a tendency for people to over-represent rare behaviors performed by members of an infrequently encountered (minority) group. On the basis of an empirical study (N = 245) this paper examines three procedural features that are common to studies in this field: (a) excluding subjects who assign too many behaviors to the minority group, (b) asking subjects to estimate the incidence of distinctive behaviors, and (c) submitting phi coefficients to Z transformation. Results show that the ICE is significantly lower amongst subjects who (a) are excluded and (b) estimate non-distinctive behaviors and (c) that Z transformation applied to phi coefficients renders the distribution of responses non-normal and does not provide a more linear index of effect strength. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern has been expressed in the literature regarding the method of scoring 'beliefs' within expectancy-value models of attitudes. This paper reviews the major issues and focuses upon some hitherto largely neglected problems with scoring methods. Empirical findings from a series of studies concerned with 'the theory of reasoned action' are examined: with a multiplicative combination of beliefs and evaluations, it is found that bipolar scoring of 'belief' items leads to higher correlations of the summed products of beliefs and evaluations with attitudes that are achieved with unipolar scoring. These findings contrast markedly with recently reported research and indicate the important role played by contextual factors (such as belief content and the response scales prevented to subjects). It is concluded that more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between conceptual and methodological issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to offer an alternative approach to the study of prejudice than that based upon the notion of categorization which is currently influential in cognitive social psychology. It is argued that the categorization approach assumes the inevitability of prejudice and ignores the issue of tolerance. The assumptions of the categorization approach are criticized, and it is suggested that, by focusing on categorization as a cognitive process, it has overlooked an opposing process -- that of particularization. The result has been a rather mechanical and bureaucratic model of cognition. A less mechanical view is possible if the relations between the two processes of categorization and particularization are considered from a rhetorical perspective, which examines the argumentative nature of thought. For theoretical and empirical reasons, this perspective does not equate prejudiced thinking with rigid categorization; instead a rhetorical approach permits a distinction between prejudice and tolerance on the basis of content, rather than form, and thereby avoids assuming the inevitability of prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a two-fold addition to the growing body of literature associated with the analysis of stigma. First, we expand the role of exchange theory in the analysis, which allows closer attention to the motivation of actors, a more careful examination of the negotiated value of stigma, and an increased awareness of the ways in which stigmas affect all parties in the interaction (both marked and unmarked individuals) by altering outcomes. Second, we explore the use of stigma exploitation in the exchange process. Seven strategies are identified and discussed: eliciting special consideration, evoking selected aspects of a stereotype, avoiding a more serious stigma, avoiding interaction, using submissive manipulation, avoiding membership, and gaining membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much controversy over the effectiveness of marital enrichment programs. Sources of controversy include the questionable quality of existing outcome studies, failure to differentiate varieties of enrichment programs that have different goals, and lack of consensus in defining what is a valid, clinically relevant effect. In this paper, an important distinction is made between valid and illusory effects of marital enrichment experiences. A three-stage model of marital enrichment designed to maximize valid effects and integrate participants' attitudinal and behavioral changes is presented. Goals of the three stages are differentiated, their advantages and limitations are discussed, and suggestions for well-designed research on the sequential model are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the author's response to the comments of K. A. Dodge about his paper on the theoretical formulation "cognitive neoassociationistic analysis" (CNA). Dodge asserts that the author did not specify the aspects of the associations impacting aggressive reactions noting that the formulation diregards the role played by the definition of the crucial situational stimuli. The author counters this highlighting that the CNA does not take for granted a stimulus' meaning but only suggests that in some instances, the resulting aggressive reactions depend on the crucial situational stimulus' connection with a previously encountered highly salient event.