Lecture 6: Hierarchy and Power

Question 1

why are silver medal winners less happy than bronze medal winners?

Answer 1

because they are in tune with hierarchies and compare themselves more to the gold medal winner

Question 2

Kahn et al., 2009

Answer 2

asked white, Asian, Latino, and Black people to rank how status by racial group on a 7-point scale. Regardless of their racial group, people reported the same hierarchies, demonstrating that hierarchies are largely recognized

Question 3

who developed social dominance orientation?

Answer 3

Sidanius and Pratto

Question 4

social dominance orientation states that

Answer 4

Both people and institutions exist along a continuum among those that are hierarchy-enforcing or hierarchy-attenuating & that hierarchies are a two-way street, requiring at least some coordination among both high-status and low-status people

Question 5

the SDO scale

Answer 5

An individual difference measure meant to capture variation in the extent to which someone believes society should have group-based hierarchies

Question 6

SDO distribution

Answer 6

is positively skewed (most people are low SDO)

Question 7

SDO & political ideology

Answer 7

(conservatism) r= .43

Question 8

SDO & explicit racial preference

Answer 8

(the degree to which white people are preferred over Black people) r= .27

Question 9

SDO & gender

Answer 9

(men are higher in SDO than women) r= .19

Question 10

SDO & police officers study

Answer 10

In a sample of 85 white police officers, greater SDO was associated with more actual uses of force while on patrol

Question 11

SDO & working in a hierarchy-enforcing job

Answer 11

Higher SDO predicted a greater likelihood of working in a hierarchy-enforcing job

Question 12

working in a hierarchy-enforcing job & SDO

Answer 12

Working in a hierarchy-enforcing job was associated with long-term increases in SDO

Question 13

Nour Kteily study method

Answer 13

used a longitudinal design, which tracked the same individuals over time and repeatedly measured SDO and forms of intergroup prejudice like negativity towards racial/ethnic outgroups

Question 14

Nour Kteily findings

Answer 14

SDO measured during freshman orientation was a stronger predictor of outgroup prejudice than outgroup prejudice was of SDO. Provides evidence that changes in SDO can cause stronger racial biases

Question 15

positive empathy

Answer 15

feeling positive after seeing someone else experiences positivity

Question 16

Schadenfreude

Answer 16

feeling positive after seeing someone else experiences negativity

Question 17

Hudson, study 2b method

Answer 17

White participants completed the SDO scale and an intergroup empathy task. In the empathy task, participants read a story about a white, Asian, or Black person experiencing something mildly positive or negative. After each story (one for each race, one for positive vs. negative), participants reported both how good and bad they felt

Question 18

Hudson study 2b findings

Answer 18

As SDO increased participants felt less positive empathy, particularly for racial outgroup members
As SDO increased, participants felt more schadenfreude, particularly for racial outgroup members

Question 19

Hudson study 2b conclusion

Answer 19

SDO may help maintain intergroup social hierarchies by blunting or muting empathy towards outgroup members, thereby making it easier to keep them in positions of low social status

Question 20

scarcity

Answer 20

having lower status and power

Question 21

scarcity and cognitive load

Answer 21

The experience of a scarcity mindset is like being under a consistent cognitive load and reduces the bandwidth available to pay attention to other concerns in one’s life

Question 22

effects of a scarcity mindset

Answer 22

People lower in resources must make sporadic decisions and trade-offs
Increases focus on immediate short-term problems
Reduces focus on the long-term global picture
Dilemmas related to poverty are distracting, use cognitive resources

Question 23

Shah et al., 2012 Wheel of Fortune study method

Answer 23

Participants play Wheel of Fortune
Manipulation of resource scarcity: number of letter guesses received per round
Outcome: cognitive control (dot-probe task)

Question 24

dot-probe task

Answer 24

participants indicate by pressing a key where a stimulus appears on a screen

Question 25

Shah et al., 2012 Wheel of Fortune Study findings

Answer 25

Poor participants performed worse in the dot-probe task. enhanced focus on immediate issues results in attentional neglect of long-term costs

Question 26

Shah et al., 2012 Wheel of Fortune Study criticism

Answer 26

lacks external validity

Question 27

sugarcane farmers and scarcity

Answer 27

Indian sugarcane farmers are paid once annually, meaning there are times when they are comparatively rich (post-harvest) & comparatively poor (pre-harvest)
The same sugarcane farmers performed 10 points higher on an IQ test when taken right after the harvest than before

Question 28

increases in income & reading & math scores

Answer 28

A $1,000 increase in income raises combined math and reading test scores by 6% of a standard deviation in the short run. These gains were largest for kids from disadvantaged families

Question 29

SDO was associated with

Answer 29

• political ideology
• explicit racial preferences
• gender