Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Doctoral Dissertations

Intergroup relations

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Public Attitudes Toward Collective Action: Three Social Psychological Investigations In Malaysia, The United States And Israel-Palestine, Hema Preya Selvanathan Jul 2019

Public Attitudes Toward Collective Action: Three Social Psychological Investigations In Malaysia, The United States And Israel-Palestine, Hema Preya Selvanathan

Doctoral Dissertations

Collective action often aims to elicit a response from the broader public. This dissertation presents three distinct but interrelated investigations on the societal outcomes of collective action among both high- and low- status groups in society, grounded in a range of social and political contexts. Chapter 1 provides an integrative literature review that identifies the motivation for the present research. Chapter 2 examined whether and how collective action organized by a social movement can shape the public’s subsequent attitudes toward the movement and its goals, in the context of the electoral reform Bersih movement in Malaysia. Chapter 3 investigated when …


Intergroup Solidarity In Peace Activism: The Potential For Success Or Backlash, Thomas Christopher O'Brien Mar 2017

Intergroup Solidarity In Peace Activism: The Potential For Success Or Backlash, Thomas Christopher O'Brien

Doctoral Dissertations

Integrating theory on distinct modes of social identity (Roccas, Sagiv, Schwartz, & Eidelson, 2008) with group-based emotion in protracted conflict (Halperin & Pilskin, 2015) and exposure to outgroups (Saguy & Halperin, 2014), this dissertation tests how Jewish Israelis respond when ingroup members and outgroup members work together to advocate for peaceful solutions to conflict (i.e., intergroup solidarity), and how glorification of one’s national group moderates these responses. Instructing participants to imagine a peace activist organization, Study 1 shows evidence that glorification of one’s ingroup predicts more anger, less hope, and less support for a political solution reflecting compromise. With a …


Multiple Group Relations: Maintaining Balance Through Indirect Contact Effects, Diala R. Hawi Aug 2014

Multiple Group Relations: Maintaining Balance Through Indirect Contact Effects, Diala R. Hawi

Doctoral Dissertations

Most research on intergroup relations has focused on two groups, whereby one group’s attitudes toward another group may change as a result of their contact experiences with that other group. Yet in real life settings, contexts in which groups come into contact are likely to involve multiple groups. This research argues that attitudes and perceptions that members of one group form about another group depend not only on their direct contact experiences with that group, but also on their relationship with third-party groups, and the perceived relationships that third-party groups have with the other group. The present research uses structural …