individual differences

Question 1

what is the right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale? (+when, who)

Answer 1

• Altemeyer 1981
• measure developed to identify people who are particularly willing to submit to authority and who strongly adhere to societal conventions and norms

Question 2

what is the RWA scale predictive of? why?

Answer 2

• strong predictor of intergroup prejudice, due to RWA’s connection to mental inflexibility and attitudes towards groups that violate current conventions
• positively correlated with negative attitudes toward Black people, gay people, feminists, and people with mental disabilities
• positively correlated with conservative political orientation

Question 3

in what way is political orientation related to psychological processes outside of just political attitudes and beliefs?

Answer 3

• need for cognitive closure is closely linked to political orientation
• refers to an individual’s desire to arrive at a firm answer to avoid feelings of ambiguity
• linked to greater reliance on stereotypes
• strongly associated with political conservatism

Question 4

what is group-serving bias (aka ultimate attribution error)?

Answer 4

the act of making trait attributions in a way that benefits one’s ingroup, just as one would make trait attributions that benefit themselves

Question 5

what are the 3 main causes of ingroup favouritism?

Answer 5

1. it’s a natural part of social categorization to simplify our environment
2. evolutionarily speaking, we like people similar to us
3. self-enhancement: self-esteem is tied to group membership

Question 6

when does ingroup favouritism not occur?

Answer 6

• when ingroup members are clearly inferior to the other groups on an important dimension
• when a member of one’s own group behaves in a way that threatens the positive image of the ingroup (aka black sheep effect)