Group Processes and Intergroup Relations

Many people in Western societies tolerate the mistreatment of nonhuman animals, despite obvious ethical concerns about the injustice of animal suffering and exploitation. In three studies, we applied system justification theory to examine the ideological basis of human–animal relations. In Studies 1a and 1b, we showed in both a large convenience sample ( N = 2,119) and a nationally representative sample in the US ( N = 1,500) that economic system justification uniquely explained the relationship between political conservatism and animal welfare attitudes even after adjusting for social dominance orientation. In Study 2, we replicated and extended these findings using more elaborate measures of animal welfare attitudes in the context of an MTurk sample of U.S. respondents ( N = 395). Specifically, we found that conservatism was associated with less support for animal welfare and greater endorsement of speciesism (the belief that humans are morally superior to nonhuman animals) and that individual differences in economic system justification mediated these associations. We discuss several ways in which system justification theory may inform interventions designed to promote support for animal welfare in society at large.

Mark R. Hoffarth

Flávio Azevedo

John T. Jost

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

Political conservatism and the exploitation of nonhuman animals: An application of system justification theory

政治保守主义与非人类动物的剥削：系统合理化理论的应用

The state’s monopoly on sovereignty can be challenged by criminal systems capable of gaining legitimacy within communities. Understanding the psychological basis of such legitimacy requires broadening traditional conceptualizations of authority to consider how it operates without legal backing and outside formal channels. This research introduces the Legitimacy of Secret Power (L-SP) Scale, a tool measuring individuals’ appraisal of illegal groups’ power. We validated L-SP through three studies ( N total = 3,173). Findings demonstrate a reliable, 20-item mono-factorial structure. Study 3 tested L-SP’s measurement invariance in the UK, Italy, Japan, and the US. Across studies, L-SP correlated with support for illegality, ideologies of masculine honor, and social dominance. It was inversely related to the perceived national threat of criminal groups, democratic attitudes, and police legitimacy. Notably, L-SP predicted individuals’ willingness to report criminal groups independently of their fear of these groups or perceptions of police legitimacy. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.

Giovanni A. Travaglino

Alberto Mirisola

Chanki Moon

Pascal Burgmer

Hirotaka Imada

Isabella Giammusso

Silvana D’Ottone

Kengo Nawata

Miki Ozeki

Dominic Abrams

The psychology of criminal authority: Introducing the Legitimacy of Secret Power Scale

犯罪权威的心理学：引入秘密权力合法性量表

This study investigates the longitudinal effects of aiding war refugees on perceptions of intergroup threat and the prospective fear of being affected by military conflict. We hypothesized that engaging in helping behaviors directed towards refugees would prompt individuals to perceive these actions as serving vital self-functions (i.e., satisfying basic psychological needs), which, in turn, could potentially mitigate the intergroup threat perceived in relation to the refugees while amplifying the prospective fear of potential warfare. Data were collected over three waves of a panel study during the initial 2 months of the refugee crisis in Poland arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Our findings reveal that providing assistance to war refugees at Time 1 resulted in greater perceived personal benefits of helping at Time 2. This enhanced perceived functionality of helping subsequently predicted diminished intergroup refugee threat perceptions (both realistic and symbolic), but also heightened fear levels concerning the potential impact of war at Time 3. These results were consistent across models accounting for lagged-1 and more stringent lagged-2 autoregressive effects. Importantly, the observed temporal relationships regarding realistic threat and fear of war were less robust against individual difference factors. These findings enrich the ongoing discourse on the impacts of aiding individuals fleeing conflict zones and how beliefs about the purpose of such means of assistance shape constructive intergroup relations.

Małgorzata Kossowska

Hoi-Wing Chan

Ying Yi Hong

Ewa Szumowska

Longitudinal effects of helping war refugees on intergroup threat and fear of war: The role of perceived helping functionality

帮助战争难民的纵向效应及其对群体间威胁和战争恐惧的影响：感知帮助功能的作用

We examined whether exposure to context diversity in one domain relates to mental associations in another social domain. County-level metrics of racial diversity and segregation computed from restricted-use U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data were linked to a geolocated measure of sexual orientation implicit bias from over 825,000 respondents across the United States (2015–2021). Multilevel models revealed that living in more racially diverse counties was related to less stereotypic implicit associations of sexual orientation, and this relationship was moderated by racial segregation. This primary result was evaluated through a series of robustness checks. Weighted models accounting for the nonrepresentative nature of the sample revealed a robust association with diversity but not an interaction with segregation. The negative relationship with diversity was also replicated on a different Implicit Association Test (IAT) measuring implicit attitudes to disability, but the interaction with segregation was again insignificant. These results support the hypothesis that exposure to social diversity in one domain can generalize to intergroup attitudes in another domain. These results also highlight the dynamic interaction between an individual and their social environment, bolstering the need for socially contextualized research on human cognition.

Mehrgol Tiv

Cody Spence

Does ethnoracial context diversity predict implicit associations of sexual orientation? Evidence from linked Census Bureau and Implicit Association Test data

种族背景多样性是否预测性取向的隐性关联？来自人口普查局与隐性联想测试关联数据的证据

This study theorizes a nativist bias in interpersonal advice seeking within organizations and empirically assesses its effects. Extending the existing discrimination and social networks research, I argue that the effects of nativism—a bias against foreigners—in advice seeking and other network relations cannot be validly inferred from native/nonnative outcome inequalities. Instead, the effects of nativism in social networks are revealed in natives’ asymmetric behaviors and attitudes that disadvantage nonnatives. It is hypothesized that, other things being equal, natives seek task-related advice across the nativity divide less frequently than nonnatives do. In another manifestation of nativism, native advice seeking targets perceive nonnatives who seek their advice as less competent than those nonnatives who do not seek their advice. Consistent evidence of these patterns was found in four separate networks of working professionals. These findings have implications for the study of discriminatory biases in social networks and for countering such biases in organizational and educational settings.

Denis Trapido

Proactivity punished: Nativist bias in advice seeking

主动性受罚：寻求建议中的本土主义偏见

Recent research indicates that positive intergroup contact with advantaged groups (e.g., White Americans) may decrease ingroup collective action amongst marginalized groups (e.g., Black, Hispanic/Latinx Americans). However, we hypothesized that seeing White Americans—and specifically one’s friends—as antiracists who actively oppose racial inequality could boost collective action in marginalized groups, counteracting this effect. Four studies and an internal meta-analysis revealed that positive contact was associated with less collective action, but perceiving one’s White friends as antiracist was associated with greater engagement. This effect was specific to White friends; perceiving White people as antiracist was not mobilizing. Further, anger about inequality and movement identification (social identity model of collective action [SIMCA]) mediated these associations. This research reveals that although positive contact can be demobilizing for marginalized racial groups, Whites’ vocal allyship within intergroup friendships can enhance social change behaviors.

Kristina G. Chamberlin

E. Ashby Plant

Getting by with a little help from my antiracist White friends: Can White antiracism counteract the demobilizing effect of positive contact?

我的反种族主义白人朋友的一点帮助：白人反种族主义能否抵消积极接触的去动员效应？

Abbreviation	Group. Process. Intergroup. Relat.
Journal Impact	4.08
Quartiles(Global)	PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL(Q1)

ISSN	1368-4302, 1461-7188
h-index	93

Publication Information	Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: No
Basic data	Year of publication: 1998，Proportion of original research papers: 100.00%，Self Citation Rate:5.00%， Gold OA Rate: 31.72%

Group Processes and Intergroup Relations

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Political conservatism and the exploitation of nonhuman animals: An application of system justification theory

The psychology of criminal authority: Introducing the Legitimacy of Secret Power Scale

Longitudinal effects of helping war refugees on intergroup threat and fear of war: The role of perceived helping functionality

Does ethnoracial context diversity predict implicit associations of sexual orientation? Evidence from linked Census Bureau and Implicit Association Test data

Proactivity punished: Nativist bias in advice seeking

Longitudinal effects of helping war refugees on intergroup threat and fear of war: The role of perceived helping functionality

Does ethnoracial context diversity predict implicit associations of sexual orientation? Evidence from linked Census Bureau and Implicit Association Test data

Proactivity punished: Nativist bias in advice seeking

The psychology of criminal authority: Introducing the Legitimacy of Secret Power Scale

Getting by with a little help from my antiracist White friends: Can White antiracism counteract the demobilizing effect of positive contact?