When and Why Antiegalitarianism Affects Resistance to Supporting Black-Owned Businesses.

Understanding how initiatives to support Black-owned businesses are received, and why, has important social and economic implications. To address this, we designed three experiments to investigate the role of antiegalitarian versus egalitarian ideologies among White American adults. In Study 1 (N = 199), antiegalitarianism (vs. egalitarianism) predicted viewing initiatives supporting a Black-owned business as less fair, but only when the business was competing with other (presumably White-owned) businesses. In Study 2 (N = 801), antiegalitarianism predicted applying survival-of-the-fittest market beliefs, particularly to Black-owned businesses. Antiegalitarianism also predicted viewing initiatives supporting Black-owned businesses as less fair than initiatives that targeted other (presumably White-owned) businesses, especially for tangible (vs. symbolic) support that directly impacts the success of a business. In Study 3 (N = 590), antiegalitarianism predicted rejecting a program investing in Black-owned businesses. These insights demonstrate how antiegalitarian ideology can have the effect of maintaining race-based inequality, hindering programs designed to reduce that inequality.

Attachment and Political Personality are Heritable and Distinct Systems, and Both Share Genetics with Interpersonal Trust and Altruism.

The attachment and caregiving domains maintain proximity and care-giving behavior between parents and offspring, in a way that has been argued to shape people's mental models of how relationships work, resulting in secure, anxious or avoidant interpersonal styles in adulthood. Several theorists have suggested that the attachment system is closely connected to orientations and behaviors in social and political domains, which should be grounded in the same set of familial experiences as are the different attachment styles. We use a sample of Norwegian twins (N = 1987) to assess the genetic and environmental relationship between attachment, trust, altruism, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO). Results indicate no shared environmental overlap between attachment and ideology, nor even between the attachment styles or between the ideological traits, challenging conventional wisdom in developmental, social, and political psychology. Rather, evidence supports two functionally distinct systems, one for navigating intimate relationships (attachment) and one for navigating social hierarchies (RWA/SDO), with genetic overlap between traits within each system, and two distinct genetic linkages to trust and altruism. This is counter-posed to theoretical perspectives that link attachment, ideology, and interpersonal orientations through early relational experiences.

Direct and indirect effects of social dominance orientation on hate speech perpetration via empathy and moral disengagement among adolescents: A multilevel mediation model.

Although it is known that social dominance orientation directly affects hate speech perpetration, few studies have explored the mechanisms by which this effect takes place during adolescence. Based on the socio-cognitive theory of moral agency, we aimed to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the direct and indirect effects of social dominance orientation on hate speech perpetration in offline and online settings. The sample included seventh, eigth, and ninth graders (N = 3225) (51.2% girls, 37.2% with an immigrant background) from 36 Swiss and German schools who completed a survey about hate speech, social dominance orientation, empathy, and moral disengagement. A multilevel mediation path model revealed that social dominance orientation had a direct effect on offline and online hate speech perpetration. Moreover, social dominance also had indirect effects via low levels of empathy and high levels of moral disengagement. No gender differences were observed. Our findings are discussed regarding the potential contribution to preventing hate speech during adolescence.

A Re-evaluation of Online Pornography Use in Germany: A Combination of Web Tracking and Survey Data Analysis.

Several researchers have questioned the reliability of pornography research's findings. Following a recent call to use more reliable data sources, we conducted two analyses to investigate patterns and predictors of online pornography use (OPU). Our analyses were based on data from a large-scale German online web tracking panel (N = 3018) gathered from June 2018 to June 2019. The study we present here has two parts: In the first part, we looked at group differences (gender and age) in tracked OPU. Overall, this part's results confirm questionnaire-based research findings regarding sex and age differences. In the second part of our study, we combined the web tracking data with data from an online survey which was answered by a subset of the tracking participants (n = 1315) to assess the relevance of various predictors of OPU that have been identified in previous research. Again, our results mostly echoed previous findings based on self-reports. Online pornography was used more by males and younger individuals, while relationship status, sexist attitudes, and social dominance orientation were not associated with OPU. However, we did find differences in OPU between members of different religious communities. Our study confirms some critical findings on OPU from previous questionnaire-based research while extending existing research by providing a more fine-grained analysis of usage patterns based on web tracking data.

The connections between personality, ideology and (counter-)empathic emotions depend on the target.

OBJECTIVES: Examine the group-specific connections between personality, ideology, and the moral emotions of empathy and schadenfreude. BACKGROUND: Empathy and schadenfreude are emotions that often lead to moral prosocial or spiteful harmful behaviors respectively. An outstanding question is what motivates feelings of empathy and schadenfreude towards people from different groups. Here we examine two prominent motivators of emotions: personality traits and ideology. Previous work has found that people's ideological orientations towards respecting traditionalism (RWA) and preferences about group-based hierarchy (SDO) can impact intergroup emotions. Further, personality traits of low agreeableness, low openness, and high conscientiousness uniquely engender SDO and RWA. METHOD: In the research presented here (Study 1 n = 492; Study 2 n = 786), we examine the relationships between personality traits, ideology, and emotions for groups that are perceived to be dangerous and competitive. We hypothesize that SDO and RWA will relate to reduced empathy and increased schadenfreude but towards unique groups. SDO will relate to reduced empathy and increased schadenfreude towards competitive, low-status groups while RWA will relate to reduced empathy and increased schadenfreude towards threatening groups. We further extend past work by investigating left-wing authoritarianism as well. RESULTS: We find broad support for our expectation that the relationships between personality and emotions, as well as ideology and emotions, depend on the specific group in question. CONCLUSIONS: These results help expand the dual process motivational model of prejudice and suggest the importance of specifying a target group when assessing relationships between personality, ideology, and emotions.

Peer victimization and Internet addiction among adolescents: The role of anger rumination and social dominance orientation.

INTRODUCTION: Internet addiction has garnered growing attention in recent years, and peer victimization plays a major contributor to adolescents' Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms in the association between peer victimization and Internet addiction. Guided by cognitive behavioral model and worldview verification model, this study examined a moderated mediation model in which anger rumination at Time 1 (T1) mediated the association between peer victimization at T1 and Internet addiction at Time 2 (T2), and this mediation effect was moderated by T1 social dominance orientation (SDO). METHODS: A short-term longitudinal design was adopted, incorporating two measurement occasions (with approximately 6-month intervals). Participants were 2597 adolescents (51.5% male, Mage = 13.9, SD = 0.60) from seven secondary schools in Zhengzhou City, China. All participants were invited to complete the self-reported questionnaires assessing peer victimization, anger rumination, SDO at T1 (December 2015) and Internet addiction at T2 (June 2016), respectively. A short-term longitudinal moderated mediation model was conducted to analyze the association between variables. RESULTS: The results showed that T1 peer victimization was positively associated with T2 Internet addiction in which association was mediated by T1 anger rumination. T1 SDO moderated the associations between T1 peer victimization and T1 anger rumination and this effect was stronger with lower levels of SDO. In terms of gender differences, SDO moderated the associations between peer victimization and anger rumination only for boys. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight that anger rumination is a potential mechanism explaining how peer victimization is related to Internet addiction and that this relation may be moderated by SDO.

Attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine mandate: The role of psychological characteristics and partisan self-identification.

Governments around the world are increasingly considering vaccine mandates to curb the spread of COVID-19. In May 2022, we surveyed 394 residents of South Dakota to examine predictors of popular attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. We investigated the role of Big Five personality traits, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation, as well as partisan self-identification, evangelical identity, and COVID-19 vaccination status. Results showed that Big Five personality traits (openness and emotional stability), right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, evangelical identity, and partisan self-identification are linked to attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Our findings underscore the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the impact of dispositional factors on attitudes toward mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

The role of the COVID-19 impersonal threat strengthening the associations of right-wing attitudes, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments.

Literature showed that the link between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes gets stronger under existential threats, but the role exerted by an impersonal threat - as COVID-19 - on right-wing attitudes is still unclear. This study aimed to highlight the role of anxiety exerted by the impersonal COVID-19 threat on the relationship between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes, as nationalism and anti-immigrants' sentiments. As part of an international project to evaluate the impact of COVID-19, this study administered an online survey to a representative sample (n 1038). The anxiety generated by an impersonal threat as COVID-19 - thus not exerted by any outgroup - can moderate the relationship among personal Right-Wing Authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ethnocentric attitudes. This is the first study demonstrating that existential threat is effective also when exerted by an impersonal agent (as COVID-19) rather than by an outgroup. Second, these findings disclose useful implications for preventive psychological interventions and for social policy makers. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04305-w.

The association between system-justifying ideologies and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany.

Although the legitimacy of an economic system is often dependent on citizen support, psychological research has paid little attention to attitudes toward economic systems. In the present study, we examined the link between two system-justifying ideologies, namely, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany. Drawing on system justification theory, we hypothesized that RWA would be positively and SDO negatively associated with support for the social market economy because the social component of the German economic system conflicts with beliefs inherent in SDO favoring a group-based hierarchy. Based on a quota sample of German adults (N = 886), we found support for the predicted associations of both system-justifying ideologies with economic system support, except that RWA was negatively associated with support for the welfare component of the social market economy. However, the positive relationship of RWA with support for the social market economy only emerged after SDO was statistically controlled, suggesting a suppressor situation. These findings demonstrate that system-justifying ideologies bear different relations to pro-market attitudes depending on the type of economic regime. Implications for system justification theory are discussed. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04483-7.

Give me liberty or give me COVID-19: How social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and libertarianism explain Americans' reactions to COVID-19.

While previous research has revealed an ideological divide in Americans' perceptions of COVID-19, specific ideological components can additionally explain public reactions to the pandemic. With two surveys-one sample of crowdsourced workers (N = 482) and a nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 7449)-this research investigates how multiple ideological facets simultaneously predict individuals' reactions to COVID-19. Results demonstrate that social dominance orientation and libertarianism are two important ideological sources that predict more dismissal of COVID-19 and less support for government measures. Right-wing authoritarianism was negatively correlated with COVID-19 concern and support for government actions, but suppression effects could exist. The effects of ideological variables were largely consistent when trust in science was considered. This study highlights the role of specific ideological components in contributing to the political divide regarding attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic beyond the liberal-conservative identification.

Politics of COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Left/right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and libertarianism.

Mandatory and punitive vaccination policies, such as requiring vaccination certificates for public activities and firing employees who refuse vaccination, have raised considerable objections. With a sample of U.S. crowdsourced workers (N = 983), this study investigates how four ideologies-left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and libertarianism-explain vaccine acceptance and attitudes toward vaccine policies. Results show that LWA predicts higher vaccine acceptance and support for COVID-19 vaccine mandates and the punishment of unvaccinated individuals, whereas libertarianism and RWA show negative relationships. SDO is linked to opposition to vaccine mandates. This study underscores the role of specific ideological components in shaping attitudes toward vaccine policies while also contributing to the arguments that LWA and libertarianism have important implications for studying sociopolitical attitudes.

Feminist identification, social dominance orientation, and weight bias in men.

Weight bias has deleterious consequences on individuals considered overweight and has similarities with forms of prejudice linked to social dominance orientation (SDO). Feminism can counter oppression that women are subject to notably through weight bias and SDO, but no studies have focused directly on these variables among men, as feminist identity is linked to less endorsement of certain beliefs in SDO and weight bias. The purpose of the present study is to explore the associations between feminist identification and beliefs, SDO, and weight bias among men from Quebec. Participants were divided into four feminist identification groups. Results indicate that feminist identification in men is linked to lower levels of SDO and less dislike toward people considered overweight. Also, feminism seems to predict prejudice toward others, but not toward oneself whereas SDO-D seems to be a good predictor of the belief that weight is controllable.

Antecedents of positive and negative intergroup contact: Evidence from a diary study.

In our current globalised, multicultural world, understanding antecedents of reciprocal interactions between native people and people of immigrant background is a major issue, because intergroup contact plays a crucial role in building inclusive societies. In this vein, using daily diary data, we examined the relation between the number of daily positive and negative interactions of White British majority (N = 744) and Asian British minority people (N = 582) with members of the respective outgroup, with RWA, SDO, perceived ingroup norms, neighbourhood diversity and contextual deprivation. Results showed that for the majority group, ingroup norms in favour of intergroup contact were positively associated with positive intergroup encounters, whereas Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) was positively associated with negative intergroup contact. Neighbourhood diversity was positively associated with positive and negative intergroup encounters. Moreover, RWA moderated the relationship between neighbourhood diversity and both positive and negative contact of White British people. For the minority group, ingroup norms were positively associated with positive intergroup contact, and the relationship between ingroup norms and negative contact was moderated by SDO. Overall, different factors affect positive and negative intergroup contact of majority and minority groups. We discuss the implications of the findings for future research and interventions.

Assessing attitudes about hate: Further validation of the hate crime beliefs scale.

The Hate Crime Beliefs Scale (HCBS) is an assessment of attitudes about hate crime laws, offenders, and victims. The original HCBS includes four subscales (negative beliefs, offender punishment, deterrence, and victim harm), while a shortened and modified version from the United Kingdom (UK; HCBS-UK) consists of three subscales (denial, sentencing, and compassion). We conducted a psychometric test of the HCBS in order to identify a best fitting structure with possible item reduction. A total of 463 participants completed the original HCBS, measures of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and demographic questions. Factor analyses revealed good fit of the data for a Hate Crime Beliefs Scale-Short Form (HCBS-SF), largely modeled after the HCBS-UK. The three subscales were: denial (i.e., downplaying hate crime severity and low support for hate crime laws), sentencing (i.e., support for more punitive offender punishment), and compassion (i.e., understanding and concern for victims). All subscales possessed acceptable internal consistency. The denial subscale was positively associated with RWA subscale and SDO scores. The sentencing and compassion subscales were significantly negatively correlated with SDO and RWA subscale scores. Republicans held the least supportive views of hate crime laws, concern for victims, and punishment of offenders. Data underscore the importance of evaluating hate crime beliefs in public opinion and other contexts. The HCBS-SF better captures hate crime related attitudes than the previously developed longer version of the HCBS.

Dominate others, hurt self: Social dominance orientation predicts depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic threatens physical and psychological health. We examined whether social dominance orientation (SDO), a preference for inequality among social groups, contributes to mental health during the pandemic. In particular, we predicted that people high in SDO would experience higher levels of depression than others low in SDO. Our results (N = 2008) showed that SDO was positively associated with depression. In addition, participants' perceived lifestyle changes moderated the association between SDO and depression. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the current work.

The role of ideological attitudes in responses to COVID-19 threat and government restrictions in Australia.

Many government strategies to reduce the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) involved unprecedented restrictions on personal movement, disrupting social and economic norms. Although generally well-received in Australia, community frustration regarding these restrictions appeared to diverge across political lines. Therefore, we examined the unique effects of the ideological subfactors of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; Aggression, Submission and Conventionalism) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; Dominance and Anti-egalitarianism) in predicting perceived personal threat of COVID-19, and support for and reactance to government restrictions, in Australian residents across two separate samples (S1 N = 451, S2 N = 838). COVID-19 threat was positively predicted by Submission, and negatively by Conventionalism, and Anti-egalitarianism. Support for restrictions was also positively predicted by Submission, and negatively by Conventionalism, Dominance, and Anti-egalitarianism. Reactance to government restrictions was negatively predicted by Submission, and positively by Conventionalism, Dominance, and Anti-egalitarianism. These findings suggest that right-wing ideological subfactors contribute to the one's perception of COVID-19 threat and government restrictions differentially.

COVID-19 threat and perceptions of common belonging with outgroups: The roles of prejudice-related individual differences and intergroup contact.

COVID-19 represents a multidimensional threat with the potential to worsen intergroup relations, but perceiving a common belonging with various outgroups may prevent intergroup tensions. During the Italian lockdown, we conducted an online survey with 685 Italian participants investigating whether perceptions of common belonging (belonging to a common group, sharing a common destiny, perceiving the difficulties faced by other groups) with disadvantaged and national outgroups were associated with perceived COVID-19 threat and prejudice-related individual differences, namely social dominance orientation (SDO), need for cognitive closure (NFC), deprovincialization, pre-lockdown positive and negative face-to-face contact with immigrants. We also explored the moderating roles of individual differences in the link between perceived threat and perceptions of common belonging. Results showed that common belonging was negatively associated with COVID-19 perceived threat, SDO, and NFC, and positively associated with deprovincialization and positive contact, with differences depending on the common belonging index and on the type of outgroup. Moderations showed that negative relationships between common belonging and COVID-19 threat held only at low levels of NFC (floor effect), deprovincialization, and positive contact. Summarizing, positive contact with minorities and openness to other cultures can favor a sense of communion with other social groups in a global health emergency.

Investigating sexual harassment in online video games: How personality and context factors are related to toxic sexual behaviors against fellow players.

Online video games are social spaces for players from around the world. They use this space to form communities, relationships, and identities. However, gaming communities are not always welcoming, and some are even perceived as being "toxic." A prevalent issue is online sexual harassment, which is keeping many women from participating in the gaming community. Research on the factors contributing to the problem is limited, though. The present study replicates and expands previous research, using a sample of 856 online gamers. The study supports earlier findings that found hostile sexism and social dominance orientation as predictors of sexual harassment perpetration in online video games. In addition, we expanded the previous research with additional predictors: machiavellianism, psychopathy, and gamer identification predicted higher sexual harassment perpetration. Our results have implications for the gaming community's role in curtailing sexual harassment and making itself a more inclusive community.

An explorative study of the individual differences associated with consumer stockpiling during the early stages of the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak in Europe.

There is little existing research on why some people stockpile goods and others do not at a time of crisis. More research on this phenomenon and the individual differences associated with it is needed in order to gain a better understanding of what is a potentially economically and socially disruptive behavior. In this study, 175 adult participants from Denmark and 90 from the United Kingdom responded to a survey about the activity of extra shopping (stockpiling) during the first weeks of the Coronavirus outbreak. Questions exploring the "big five" personality traits, Social Dominance Orientation, Health Literacy, and attitudes to the governmental response to the crisis were included in the survey. The explorative analysis showed that stockpiling was associated with high scores on Extraversion and Neuroticism, and low scores on Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience. Stockpiling was also associated with the view that the government should be doing more to stop the Coronavirus epidemic. An explorative factor analysis of reasons for stockpiling identified the two factors "Panic" and "Action".

Chinese adolescents with higher social dominance orientation are less prosocial and less happy: A value-environment fit analysis.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and subjective well-being among Chinese adolescents (N = 4246), and to examine the mediating role of prosocial behaviour in this relationship. The structural equation model's results showed that SDO was negatively associated with prosocial behaviour and subjective well-being, that prosocial behaviour was positively associated with subjective well-being, and also that (low) prosocial behaviour partially mediated the negative relationship between SDO and subjective well-being. Multi-group analyses showed that the mediation model was generally similar between boys and girls, but that the negative relationship between SDO and prosocial behaviour was somewhat stronger among girls than boys. This study sheds light on how SDO is associated with positive outcomes among Chinese adolescents and highlights the mediating role of prosocial behaviour as an underlying mechanism between SDO and subjective well-being. Future studies are needed to further discover the role of culture values in the association between SDO and subjective well-being.