Relational motivation in prejudice and discrimination: The case of social exclusion
Item
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Title
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Relational motivation in prejudice and discrimination: The case of social exclusion
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:915ad5cf139a:10497
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identifier
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10639
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Creator
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Noel, Steven P.,
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Contributor
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Curtis D. Hardin
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Date
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2010
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social psychology | Experimental psychology | Aggression | Discrimination | Exclusion | Prejudice | Rejection | Shared Reality
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Abstract
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Research on rejection has focused almost exclusively on rejection at the hands of unimportant others, and generally yielded findings that rejection is met with rejection. This research was designed to test the hypothesis that rejection from important others is not so easily dismissed, and may instead be met with attempts to reconcile along lines implicated by shared reality theory (Hardin & Higgins, 1996). Under situations of interpersonal threat like rejection, people may be motivated to act in ways that preserve an important relationship, including aligning their attitudes and behavior toward the views of the rejecter. Three experiments tested this hypothesis by assessing prejudicial behavior and attitudes as a function of rejection and relationship motivation manipulations. Following a computer-mediated ball tossing game (Williams et al., 2000)---in which participants were either included or excluded by fellow players who were ostensibly antigay (Experiment 1) or anti-black (Experiment 2 and 3)---participant behavior and attitudes toward homosexuals and African Americans, respectively, were assessed. Relational motivation was manipulated by telling participants that they either shared or did not share the same birthday and favorite food with their partners, and that they would interact (or not) after the game. Across all three experiments, relational motivation eliminated or reversed the standard exclusion effect. Under conditions of low relationship motivation, exclusion induced anti-tuning of relationship-relevant attitudes, replicating the common finding that rejection elicits reciprocal rejection. In contrast, under conditions in which relational motivation was just minimally greater---i.e., when participants were connected to their partners through a shared birthday or favorite food---exclusion elicited greater social tuning both behaviorally and attitudinally. Social tuning was especially strong for low self-esteem individuals, who are known to be especially anxious about social rejection and hypervigilant in the face of interpersonal threat. This research suggests that when the relationship is even minimally important, people may attempt reconciliation with their rejecters through social tuning, even when doing so means endorsing prejudice and discrimination.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
