Mobilizing or Sedative Effects? A Narrative Review of the Association Between Intergroup Contact and Collective Action Among Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups.

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT: In 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 awareness of injustice mobilized collection action; contact that made the legitimacy of group hierarchy or threat of retaliation more salient produced sedative effects. PUBLIC ABSTRACT: We present a review of existing studies that have investigated the relationship between intergroup contact and collective action aimed at promoting equity for disadvantaged groups. We further consider the influence of contact that is positive or negative and face-to-face or indirect (e.g., through mass or social media), and we distinguish between collective action that involves socially acceptable behaviors or is destructive and violent. We identified 134 studies, considering both advantaged (100 samples) and disadvantaged groups (58 samples). We found that intergroup contact impacts collective action differently depending on group status. Contact generally leads advantaged groups to mobilize in favor of disadvantaged groups. However, contact has variable effects on members of disadvantaged groups: It sometimes promotes their collective action in support of their own group; in other cases, it leads them to be less likely to engage in such action. We examine when and why contact can have these different effects.

Body Shame in 7-12-Year-Old Girls and Boys: The Role of Parental Attention to Children's Appearance.

Guided by the Tripartite Influence Model and Objectification Theory, we examined whether parents' attention to their children's appearance was related to higher body shame in girls and boys. In Study 1 (N = 195) and 2 (N = 163), we investigated 7-12-year-old children's metaperceptions about parents' attention to their appearance and its association with children's body shame. In Study 3, we examined the link between parents' self-reported attention to their children's appearance and children's body shame among parent-child triads (N = 70). Results demonstrated that both children's metaperceptions and fathers' self-reported attention to children's appearance were associated with body shame in children. Furthermore, when mothers' and fathers' attitudes toward their children were analyzed simultaneously, only fathers' attention to their children's appearance was associated with greater body shame in girls and boys. Notably, no gender differences emerged, suggesting that parents' attention to their children's appearance was not differentially related to body shame in girls and boys. These results remained significant when controlling for other sources of influence, namely peer and media influence, both of which were found to have a strong association with body shame in children. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Why Might Women Justify Dating Violence? The Role of Men's Sexual Objectification of Their Romantic Partners Within Heterosexual Relationships.

Men's partner-sexual objectification has been linked to increased self-objectification and diminished well-being in women. Some recent findings have also demonstrated that men's partner-sexual objectification is related to increased violence in the relationship. However, mechanisms driving this association remain unexplored. In the present research, we collected data on women and men involved in heterosexual romantic relationships and investigated the associations between men's partner-sexual objectification, women's self-objectification, and both partners' attitudes toward dating violence. Study 1 (N = 171 heterosexual couples) provided first evidence for the link between men's partner-sexual objectification and their attitudes toward dating violence. Furthermore, men's attitudes toward dating violence mediated the relationship between sexual objectification of their partners and women's attitudes toward dating violence. These results were replicated in Study 2 (N = 235 heterosexual couples). Findings of this study also revealed that, along with men's attitudes toward dating violence, women's self-objectification acted as a mediating mechanism linking experiences of being sexually objectified by the romantic partner and attitudes toward dating violence in women. Implications of our findings for the issue of dating violence are discussed.

Proxemic Behaviors During Gay/Straight Interactions: An Automated Analysis Through Kinect Depth-Sensing Camera.

Through two experimental studies (N = 150), we investigated proxemic behaviors featuring gay/straight dyadic interactions. In doing so, for the first time, we relied on an IR depth camera and considered the interpersonal volume between the interactants, a novel feature that exhaustively captures interactants' proxemic behaviors. Study 1 revealed that the straight participants' implicit sexual bias - but not the explicit prejudice - significantly predicted their volume while interacting with a study accomplice who was presented as gay (vs. straight). However, unlike previous research, mixed-model analyses revealed the higher their implicit bias was, the smaller the interpersonal volume that they maintained with the gay study accomplice, especially when the conversation focused on an intergroup-related (vs. neutral) topic. Study 2 was mainly designed to deepen this main finding. Results documented that highly implicitly biased participants who maintained a smaller interpersonal volume with a gay (vs. straight) study accomplice were more cognitively depleted after the interaction than low-biased participants, possibly suggesting that highly implicitly biased straight people can control this nonverbal behavior to appear as nonprejudiced in the gay interactant's eyes. Implications for research on sexual prejudice and intergroup nonverbal behaviors are discussed.

Priming attachment security and outgroup humanization: The mediation role of intergroup emotions.

Individuals tend to dehumanize the outgroup. In this paper, we explore whether the activation of attachment security can attenuate dehumanization. Two studies were performed. In Study 1, attachment security was primed by showing pictures that depicted relationships with attachment figures; the outgroup was the homeless and humanization was measured considering the attribution of uniquely human and non-uniquely human emotions to this group. In Study 2, the sense of interpersonal security was activated by inviting participants to relive a recent interaction that left them with a feeling of safety and warmth. Outgroup members were the Roma, and humanization was measured considering the attribution of uniquely human and human nature traits to them. In Study 2, the mediation effect of intergroup emotions was investigated. In both studies, outgroup humanization effects were highlighted. In Study 2, these effects were mediated by increased empathy toward the outgroup. Interestingly, the positive impact of security activation was not moderated by chronic attachment orientations. Findings suggest strategies that can be used to improve intergroup relations in specific contexts and in society at large.

Parental Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Friend or Foe? A Moderation Analysis of the Association between Maternal Anxiety and Children's Stress in Italian Dyads.

There is evidence that parental psychological disorders in stressful situations increase the risk of disturbance in child development. This has been investigated in disasters but not in pandemics, which are sensibly different from other types of traumatic events. We investigated the relationship between mothers' anxiety and their children's (self-reported) stress and the boundary conditions of this association during the first full COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers might have increased their protective attitudes to secure and support their children; we tested whether the relationship between mothers' anxiety and children's stress was weaker (buffer effect) or stronger (over-protection effect) when perceived parental support was high. We measured mothers' anxiety, children's perceived parental support, and children's stress in a sample of 414 8- to 11-year-old primary school children (229 females, Mage = 9.44) and 395 mothers (Mage = 42.84). Results supported the over-protection scenario and provided the first evidence for the "helicopter-parent effect" during the COVID-19 pandemic: mothers' anxiety was positively associated with children's stress only when perceived support was high. Our finding highlights the importance of educating parents (for example, via emotional training) to prevent the worst consequences of adverse events in children and promote their mental health.

Comparing story reading and video watching as two distinct forms of vicarious contact: An experimental intervention among elementary school children.

Research has shown that vicarious contact, that is observing an interaction between ingroup and outgroup members, can improve intergroup relations. Although vicarious contact has been operationalized in different ways, mainly via story reading or video watching, an experimental comparison of these different strategies is still missing. We conducted a school intervention with the aim of comparing the two most used forms of vicarious contact, namely story reading and video watching. Elementary schoolchildren without disabilities (N = 292) were assigned to one of three different conditions: reading a story; watching a video; control. In the two vicarious contact conditions, participants read or watched the story of a child with disability becoming friends with children without disabilities; in the control condition, participants only completed the dependent measures. Results revealed that, in general, both vicarious contact conditions were equally effective in improving outgroup attitudes and behavioural intentions. In addition, they operated with the same strength through the same underlying processes (IOS, ingroup norms). We discuss theoretical and practical implications in the context of vicarious contact as a prejudice-reduction intervention.

Neonatal male circumcision is associated with altered adult socio-affective processing.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal male circumcision is a painful skin-breaking procedure that may affect infant physiological and behavioral stress responses as well as mother-infant interaction. Due to the plasticity of the developing nociceptive system, neonatal pain might carry long-term consequences on adult behavior. In this study, we examined whether infant male circumcision is associated with long-term psychological effects on adult socio-affective processing. METHODS: We recruited 408 men circumcised within the first month of life and 211 non-circumcised men and measured socio-affective behaviors and stress via a battery of validated psychometric scales. RESULTS: Early-circumcised men reported lower attachment security and lower emotional stability while no differences in empathy or trust were found. Early circumcision was also associated with stronger sexual drive and less restricted socio-sexuality along with higher perceived stress and sensation seeking. LIMITATIONS: This is a cross-sectional study relying on self-reported measures from a US population. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings resonate with the existing literature suggesting links between altered emotional processing in circumcised men and neonatal stress. Consistent with longitudinal studies on infant attachment, early circumcision might have an impact on adult socio-affective traits or behavior.

Correction: Truth and lies in your eyes: Pupil dilation of White participants in truthful and deceptive responses to White and Black partners.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239512.].

Truth and lies in your eyes: Pupil dilation of White participants in truthful and deceptive responses to White and Black partners.

In the present study, we examined the pupillary response of White participants who were asked to tell the truth or lie to White or Black partners. Research on cues to deception has assumed that lying is more cognitively demanding that truth telling. In line with this assumption, previous studies have shown that lying is associated with greater pupil dilation, a behavioral cue that typically manifests itself under conditions of stress or cognitive effort. In accordance with these results, we predicted greater pupil dilation when lying than when telling the truth. Furthermore, pupil dilation was expected to be greater when responding to White than Black partners. Finally, we hypothesized that pupil dilation would be greater when lying to White than Black partners. Participants were instructed to answer a set of questions, half truthfully and half deceptively. They were led to believe that White vs. Black partners (one male and one female) would ask the questions via computer connection. Indeed, we used feminine and masculine synthetic voices. Pupil dilation was assessed with a remote eye-tracking system. Results provided support for the first two hypotheses. However, the predicted interaction between race of partners and truth status of message (lying vs. telling the truth) was nonsignificant. Our findings highlight the importance of considering race in the study of truthful and deceptive communications.

Personality traits and oral device: a new challenge to increase compliance with MAD therapy for OSAS and snoring.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is a respiratory syndrome and oral devices can be used for its treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the opinions of a generic subject about being treated by a dentist for a general health problem and the association between personality traits and the predisposition to use a MAD for the treatment of OSAS and snorting. One hundred and forty-eight participants were enrolled in the study and were asked to fill in the questionnaires. Personality traits were evaluated using NFC (Need for Closure), PER (openness to new experiences), STAI-Trait and STAI-Stat questionnaires (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The propensity to be treated with dental devices for a general health problem such as OSAS and snoring was evaluated with a specific questionnaire. Eight out of ten participants would accept to use dental device to be kept at night for the solution of a health problem or the treatment of a disease that does not affect the teeth. A positive opinion on device used to treat OSAS was associated with higher PER and lower Mad-related distress, while the opinion of usefulness of the device was positively associated with higher PER and STAI-Trait. A positive opinion about treatment of snorting and OSAS using dental devices was associated with higher PER, while lower STAI-Trait was associated with positive opinion on treatment of snorting using dental-devices. The results suggest that some personality traits are associated with the propensity to use MAD to treat a general pathology as OSAS.

Support for rejection and reception policies toward asylum seekers in Italy: The role of conservative ideologies and legitimizing myths.

Based on Social Dominance Theory (SDT), this study investigates the relationships between ideologically conservative attitudes (social dominance orientation, SDO; right-wing authoritarianism, RWA), legitimizing myths (false belief in asylum seekers as bogus; perception of in-group threats), and citizens' support for restricted reception and rejection of asylum policies. A sample of 539 people living in Italy filled in an anonymous questionnaire administered using a cross-sectional design. The results support the expectations, showing that people high in SDO and RWA were more likely to hold the belief that asylum seekers are making false claims and to perceive that the latter pose a threat to the in-group, which in turn increased support for both of restrictive policies. Findings suggest that conservative ideologies can positively affect citizens' support for restrictive asylum seeker policies based on both rejection and restricted reception by supplying ideological justification for not accommodating them in the host society.

Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes.

AIMS: Driven by the literature on pluralistic ignorance, our research investigates fear of appearing racist, being rejected, discriminated, and disinterest in intergroup contact as antecedents of contact and outgroup attitudes, focusing on attributional differences between the majority and minority group perspectives. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed in schools in Northern Italy. Participants were 400 Italian and 141 immigrant high-school students. RESULTS: The results showed that the lack of interest in contact was the strongest predictor of contact for the majority group. For the minority group, fear of rejection emerged as the strongest predictor. The majority group attributed the minority to avoid contact most strongly due to the fear that they would be rejected, and the minority group perceived it was due to the majority not being interested in contact. CONCLUSION: Our research contributes to understanding the divergent concerns the majority and minority groups have in relation to intergroup contact and discusses the importance of tackling these concerns.

Psychiatric Phenocopy Syndrome of Behavioral Frontotemporal Dementia: Behavioral and Cognitive Fingerprint.

Behavioral and cognitive variables predicting behavioral frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) versus primary psychiatric disorders mimicking bvFTD (phenocopy syndrome: bvFTD-PS) were studied. Forty-one probable/definite bvFTD and 16 bvFTD-PS patients were evaluated with cognitive battery, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and Stereotypic and Ritualistic Behavior-revised questionnaires. Twenty-seven healthy subjects served as control. Severity of cognitive impairment/behavioral symptoms and profile of cognitive deficits were similar, with bvFTD-PS showing impaired executive abilities and memory. However, phonemic fluency was impaired only in bvFTD (p < 0.001). Depression was worse in bvFTD-PS, while apathy, disinhibition, and dietary changes characterized bvFTD. Phonemic fluency and depression accounted for the best predictive diagnostic model. A structured psychiatric screening of bvFTD mimickers may often yield a psychiatric diagnosis with predominant depressive symptoms and therefore a potentially treatable condition.

The Work-Related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale: An Italian Validation.

The main goal of the present study was to validate the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction (W-BNS) scale in the Italian social context. Three studies were carried out. Study 1 was conducted on two samples of employees. Exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis were run on the first sample, whereas confirmatory factor analyses were run on the second. Results supported the three-dimensional structure of the W-BNS scale. Study 2 was conducted on a third sample of employees. Results supported the construct validity of the scale, by showing that needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness were associated with job resources (social support, job autonomy, professional growth), low burnout, and job attitudes (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, commitment). In addition, results showed that responses to the scale were not affected by social desirability bias. Study 3 was conducted to evaluate the nomological validity of the scale (the sample grouped together all respondents from Studies 1 and 2). A model was tested in which organizational commitment mediated the relationship between basic needs and two outcomes (job satisfaction, intentions to leave). Organizational commitment was measured by using the Klein et al. Unidimensional Target-free scale (the KUT). Results supported the nomological validity of the scale. In line with our expectations, the three needs were associated with the KUT, which in turn mediated the effects of needs on the outcomes. Practical implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Testing Hippocampal Memory in Prodromal Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

The Free and Cued Selective Reminding test (FCSRT) was used to assess memory in 19 patients with prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and 25 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. DLB scored better than AD in selective measures of the FCSRT: immediate total recall (p = 0.01) and index of sensitivity of cueing (p = 0.001), while free delayed and total memory scores were similarly impaired. The index of sensitivity of cueing held a sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 79% in distinguishing DLB. FCSRT could help in disentangling hippocampal memory deficits from memory impairment due to ineffective recall strategies.

Secondary transfer effect among children: The role of social dominance orientation and outgroup attitudes.

Research has provided evidence that the effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction are not limited to the outgroup one has contact with (primary outgroup). Rather, they extend to secondary outgroups uninvolved in the contact situation (secondary transfer effect; Pettigrew, 2009, Social Psychology, 40, 55). We aimed to provide the first empirical evidence for the emergence of the secondary transfer effect among children. Majority (Italian) and minority (with an immigrant background) elementary schoolchildren were administered a questionnaire including measures of contact with the primary outgroup (minority children for the majority, majority children for the minority), prejudice towards the primary outgroup and towards a dissimilar secondary outgroup (disabled children), and social dominance orientation. Results revealed that among the majority group, contact with the primary outgroup had indirect associations with reduced prejudice towards the secondary outgroup. Specifically, we found evidence for sequential mediation by social dominance orientation and prejudice towards the primary outgroup. No secondary transfer effects emerged among minority group members. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings, arguing for the importance of identifying the core processes driving the secondary transfer effect.

Out-group threats and distress as antecedents of common in-group identity among majority and minority group members in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of out-group threats in fostering one-group perceptions directly and indirectly via post-traumatic stress symptoms in the aftermath of a natural disaster. We also tested whether these relationships differ depending on the ethnic group of belonging (majority vs. minority). Participants were 589 Italians and 122 immigrants from a region strongly affected by the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012. Results revealed that among Italians threat stemming from negative out-group behaviour was associated positively with post-traumatic stress symptoms and negatively with perceptions of being a common group with immigrant survivors. Among immigrants, threat posed by the out-group for economic resources was positively associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms and, indirectly, with higher one-group perceptions.

Specific Verbal Memory Measures May Distinguish Alzheimer's Disease from Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

BACKGROUND: Standard measures of commonly used memory tests may not be appropriate to distinguish different neurodegenerative diseases affecting memory. OBJECTIVE: To study whether specific measures of verbal memory obtained with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test (RAVLT) could help distinguish dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Twenty-nine DLB and 32 AD patients participated in the study and were followed longitudinally for 3 years until the diagnosis was confirmed according to standard clinical criteria. Twenty-eight healthy elderly subjects served as controls. The following verbal memory measures were evaluated: verbal learning (VL), verbal forgetting (VF), percentage of verbal forgetting (VF%), and serial position effects of the immediate recall performance. RESULTS: DLB and AD groups have comparable performances at the RAVLT immediate and delayed recall tasks. However, VL was higher in DLB than AD while VF% was greater in AD. With a VF% cut-off ≥75%, AD and DLB patients were differently distributed, with 58% of AD versus 21% of DLB above this cut-off. The recency effect was significant higher in AD than DLB. DISCUSSION: DLB patients had a better performance in VL than AD, but worse VF and recency effect. These specific measures of verbal memory could be used as cognitive markers in the differential diagnosis between these two conditions.

Intergroup Contact and Outgroup Humanization: Is the Causal Relationship Uni- or Bidirectional?

The attribution of uniquely human characteristics to the outgroup may favor the search for contact with outgroup members and, vice versa, contact experiences may improve humanity attributions to the outgroup. To explore this bidirectional relationship, two studies were performed. In Study 1, humanity perceptions were manipulated using subliminal conditioning. Two experimental conditions were created. In the humanization condition, the unconditioned stimuli (US) were uniquely human words; in the dehumanization condition, the US were non-uniquely human and animal words. In both conditions, conditioned stimuli were typical outgroup faces. An approach/avoidance technique (the manikin task) was used to measure the willingness to have contact with outgroup members. Findings showed that in the humanization condition participants were faster in approaching than in avoiding outgroup members: closeness to the outgroup was preferred to distance. Latencies of approach and avoidance movements were not different in the dehumanization condition. In Study 2, contact was manipulated using the manikin task. One approach (contact) condition and two control conditions were created. The attribution of uniquely human traits to the outgroup was stronger in the contact than in the no-contact conditions. Furthermore, the effect of contact on humanity attributions was mediated by increased trust toward the outgroup. Thus, findings demonstrate the bidirectionality of the relationship between contact and humanity attributions. Practical implications of findings are discussed.