Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Angelica Mucchi-Faina, Stefano Pagliaro, Alberto Mirisola, Francesca Romana Alparone
University of Perugia, Dipartimento Istituzioni e Società , Via Elce di Sotto, 06123 Perugia, Italy. gpacilli@unipg.it
The Journal of social psychology 2013 Jan-FebIndividuals often hold ambivalent attitudes (i.e., positive and negative attitudes at the same time) toward groups and social categories. The aim of the present research was to examine the differential effects of affective and cognitive dimensions of ambivalence on the (amplification of) responses towards a minority group. We asked 188 students from the University of Perugia to read a short description of a fictitious group of immigrants. After expressing their affective and cognitive attitudes toward the target group, participants received positive, negative, or no supplementary information about this group. Discrimination was assessed by asking participants to allocate to the target group a percentage of a financial support fund for poor people (both Italian and immigrant) living in their regional area. As expected, we found that only affective ambivalence amplified either negative or positive responses toward the group.
Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Angelica Mucchi-Faina, Stefano Pagliaro, Alberto Mirisola, Francesca Romana Alparone. When affective (but not cognitive) ambivalence predicts discrimination toward a minority group. The Journal of social psychology. 2013 Jan-Feb;153(1):10-24
PMID: 23421002
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