john dovidio

Coalitions among individuals and between groups, which have had critical evolutionary benefits for humans, play an important role in contemporary life. One key element of the processes of assessing potential allies is how they may contribute to the perceived physical formidability – fighting ability or the capacity to inflict costs on others – of the alliance. In three studies, focused for the first time on intergroup coalitions, we investigated how qualities of the groups such as status (social prestige) and the relationship between them influence the perceived physical formidability of a coalition (i.e., European Union, EU). Study 1 found that the inclusion of a group with higher or similar (but not lower) status increased the perceived formidability of the EU. Studies 2 and 3 showed that learning that ingroup members recategorized a low‐status group within a common‐group identity increased the perceived formidability of the …

Academic AbstractIn this narrative review, we examined 134 studies of the relationship between intergroup contact and collective action benefiting disadvantaged groups. We aimed to identify whether, when, and why contact has mobilizing effects (promoting collective action) or sedative effects (inhibiting collective action). For both moderators and mediators, factors associated with the intergroup situation (compared with those associated with the out-group or the in-group) emerged as the most important. Group status had important effects. For members of socially advantaged groups (examined in 98 studies, 100 samples), contact had a general mobilizing effect, which was stronger when contact increased awareness of experiences of injustice among members of disadvantaged groups. For members of disadvantaged groups (examined in 49 studies, 58 samples), contact had mixed effects. Contact that increased …

PrEP has been reported to facilitate openness to serodifferent sexual partnerships among sexual minority men (SMM). However, other aspects of a sexual scenario likely come into play, including whether or not condoms are used and whether or not the partner living with HIV has an undetectable viral load. This online survey study evaluated the association between PrEP status and openness to serodifferent partnering, as well as the effects of various sexual scenario variables (condom use and partner’s viral load) among 268 HIV-negative SMM in the US. Each participant reported their PrEP status and rated their openness to serodifferent partnering in four sexual scenarios, which varied by condom use (with/without) and partner viral load status (detectable/undetectable). Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted to assess differences in openness to serodifferent partnering by PrEP status in each …

The Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) message and its scientific underpinnings have been widely suggested to reduce HIV stigma. However, misunderstanding and skepticism about U = U may prevent this destigmatizing potential from being fully realized. This cross-sectional study examined associations between U = U belief (belief that someone with a sustained undetectable viral load has zero risk of sexually transmitting HIV) and HIV stigma among US sexual minority men. Differences by serostatus and effects of brief informational messaging were also explored. The survey was completed online by 106 men living with HIV and 351 HIV-negative/status-unknown men (2019–2020). Participants were 18–83 years old (M[SD] = 41[13.0]). Most were non-Hispanic White (70.0%) and gay (82.9%). Although nearly all participants (95.6%) were aware of U = U, only 41.1% believed U = U. A greater …

We extend work on how, when, and why people accommodate another's bias by drawing from attribution theories and research on evaluative transfer to investigate how observers reasoned about an actor who accommodated the sexist views of another person. As predicted, participants made stronger internal, sexist attributions for actors who accommodated (vs. rejected) another person's sexism (Study 1). Moreover, participants made stronger sexist attributions when a male (vs. female) actor accommodated a man's prejudice against women, and they responded more negatively as a result. The same actor-gender effect emerged in Study 2, except when the decision to accommodate someone else's sexism contradicted the actor's previous hiring intentions. Across studies, stronger attributions to the sexism of the actor were associated with participants’ negative reactions to the decision and proposed penalties for …

Research has suggested that women, unlike men, do not experience increased anxiety in response to gender stereotypicality threats. That research, however, has not considered the domain of gender stereotypes in which women might be most invested: physical appearance. The present work examines US cisgender women's responses to (bogus) feedback about the femininity of their appearance, which allegedly came from an algorithmic analysis of a photograph or video of their face. Across four experiments (N = 2494), women experienced more anxiety (Studies 1a, 1c, and 2) and lower self-esteem (Studies 1c and 2) in response to feedback indicating that their appearance was less feminine than average (i.e., threats) than feedback indicating that their appearance was more feminine than average (i.e., affirmations). Feedback on the femininity of women's appearance, but not personality (Study 2), had an effect …

Objective Although violent extremism is often attributed to clinical (dysfunctional) dispositions, it is also possible that violent Jihadists might be clinically “normal” but bear certain personality signatures. This alternative view has yet to be tested. Method In six studies, employing hard‐to‐reach Muslim samples, including one study of former Mujahideen, we investigated the relationship between basic personality traits and violent extremism. We further used a known group paradigm to validate the personality signatures of violent extremism, comparing a sample of former Mujahideen with another sample from Afghanistan. Results These studies and an internal meta‐analysis revealed that Lower Openness to Experience, lower Emotionality, and lower Altruism were associated with more violent intentions to support Muslims. Higher Altruism was associated with higher levels of nonviolent intention to support Muslims …

The past generation has seen a dramatic rise in multiracial populations and a consequent increase in exposure to individuals who challenge monolithic racial categories. We examine and compare two potential outcomes of the multiracial population growth that may impact people’s racial categorization experience: (a) exposure to racially ambiguous faces that visually challenge the existing categories, and (b) a category that conceptually challenges existing categories (including “biracial” as an option in addition to the monolithic “Black” and “White” categories). Across four studies (N = 1,810), we found that multiple exposures to faces that are racially ambiguous directly lower essentialist views of race. Moreover, we found that when people consider a category that blurs the line between racial categories (i.e., “biracial”), they become less certain in their racial categorization, which is associated with less race …